Utahns deal with too high gas prices

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Drivers look for a culprit to blame

LAYTON -- The rising gas prices seem to be shocking retailers as much as motorists. Some "regular, midgrade, premium" signs are using homemade numbers due to the need for so many 3s -- as in $3.33 per gallon.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in Utah hit $3.21 per gallon Tuesday. That's up 42 cents over April's average, according to AAA. The national average is $3.07 per gallon.

Motorists are responding to the financial pain, said AAA representative Rolayne Fairclough, but not all their efforts are worthwhile. She said Tuesday's one-day boycott was well-intentioned, but ultimately useless.

"This may make them feel better, but it won't have any effect on gas prices," Fairclough said.

If motorists actually abstained from using gas for one day -- rather than rescheduling their gas purchases to a day earlier or later -- it would cut into gas company profits. Fairclough said even that would be unlikely to reduce the price at the pump because oil is a global commodity with many pressures that raise or lower the price.

Layton resident Janet Jackson said she heard about the boycott from daughter Brooke Jackson.

"Here you told me to not buy gas today and what are you doing?" Janet Jackson said from the passenger seat of the car.

"Oh, is it the 15th?" Brooke shot back with a laugh as she continued to fill her tank. "Oops."

Fairclough said motorists like Brooke shouldn't worry, because they would be better off tuning up their vehicles rather than participating in e-mail chains.

She also suggested lifestyle changes like consolidating errands and simply driving less by taking public transit.

Janet Jackson said her family has already taken some of that advice. She said they've adjusted drivers and vehicles so that the family member with the shortest commute drives the gas-guzzling SUV.

While filling her tank Tuesday, Kim Zike, of Clearfield, said that the gas prices are still manageable. "Right now it's an irritant," she said. "I can see another dollar or two, though, becoming a major purchase."

Many drivers are also looking for a culprit, wondering who's making big bucks off drivers' gas-pump pain.

Zike blames oil executives.

"I believe (high prices) are motivated by greed by the gas companies," she said. "They always say, 'we have to do it,' but I don't believe that."

Fairclough said elected officials must find a solution.

"We have an energy problem," she said. "We have very good supplies of oil. Ours is a refinery problem."

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 301 refineries were in operation in 1982. By 2006, that number had dropped to just 149.

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