Robert Chacon
Gas prices kept shooting up this week, but that didn't stop Glendale
drivers from filling up at the pumps.
Local drivers were paying as much as $2.22 for a gallon of
unleaded and up to $2.42 for super unleaded, despite a California
average of $2.03 a gallon, according to the Energy Information
Administration.
The prices are causing drivers to change fueling habits, including
driving farther for cheaper gas and only partially filling their
tanks.
"This is outrageous," said Joe Perez, who owns a pool cleaning
business and serves residents mostly in Glendale, La Crescenta and La
Canada Flintridge.
He relies on his pickup, its bed filled with cleaning equipment
and supplies, to get to customers' homes.
"These prices are breaking me," Perez said as he was filling up at
the Mobil station at the corner of Verdugo Road and Mountain Street,
where the price for a gallon of unleaded was $2.19 on Friday. He filled his truck with $8 worth of unleaded, enough to get him to a
gas station where prices are less expensive.
"I mean, why are we in Iraq? Weren't gas prices supposed to go
down because we beat Hussein?" he said.
Not according to the Energy Information Administration, which
blamed the sharp spike in prices on some of California's refineries
unexpectedly shutting down for maintenance. The administration warned
that drivers will probably continue paying high prices through the
spring and summer because of high demand and low fuel inventories.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday asked the Federal Trade
Commission to investigate whether rising prices are due to market
manipulation by oil companies.
Skyrocketing pump prices are not just a burden to business owners
like Perez. Students on a limited budget find it difficult to keep up
with pricing.
"I'm lucky because I live on campus and don't have to drive around
too much," said Tiffany Sorenson, a student at Azusa Pacific
University visiting her sister in Glendale. "But I know a lot of my
friends are complaining about the prices. They're college students
and can't afford [the gas prices]."
