Grand Canyon Times

As the peak driving season approaches, gasoline is on the rise again causing drivers in Arizona and across the nation to feel the pain at the pump.

Gasoline prices have set new records in the last week, as they continue to climb higher every day. Today's national average price per gallon has been reported at $4.43, up another 15 cents from last week. The latest Gasoline Misery Index shows that on average, Americans will spend $735 more annually on gasoline now than they did at this time last year. In Arizona, the average is $4.72 per gallon and the misery number sits at $800.

The Gasoline Misery Index tracks how much more (or less) the average American consumer is paying for gasoline on an annualized basis, according to the Index’s website. Numbers are compiled using gas price data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), average fuel efficiency (mpg) data from the U.S. Department of Energy and average miles driven from MetroMile.com. The Index tracks the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline and adjusts using the average miles traveled by the average miles per gallon of American cars.

"Americans today will have collectively spent over half a billion dollars more on gasoline compared to a year ago – ~$550+ million more to be exact," Patrick De Haan, oil and refined products analyst of GasBuddy, said on May 11.

May 13's national average of $4.43 per gallon represents an 8.6% climb from a month ago when the average was $4.08 per gallon. Over a month ago, Biden released a record amount of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), an act that was said to bring down pump prices. On March 31, the day of Biden's SPR release, gas was $4.22 per gallon, 21 cents cheaper than today, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in January 2021 the national average price per gallon of gasoline was $2.33. It has increased 90% when compared to Friday's national average price of $4.43, a number that the Gasoline Misery Index calls the Biden Misery Index. Americans are spending an average of $1,103 more per year on gasoline today since the president entered office in January.

On April 12, Fox 10 News reported that at a luncheon for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema told business executives, "The reasonable way to address what is going to be an oil shortage in America is for us to responsibly increase our own domestic oil production." The Democratic senator, who is often at odds with the progressive wing of her party, called for an "all-of-the-above energy strategy," which generally means promoting the production of both renewable and fossil fuels. Sinema said the U.S. dependence on foreign oil jeopardizes its security and that of its allies.

E&E News PM reports that in early April, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona joined Dem. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia in urging the Biden administration to create a schedule for increasing domestic oil production. In a letter to Biden, the two lawmakers argued that a new five-year oil and gas leasing plan in the Gulf of Mexico is needed in order to help ease the country's high energy prices. 

“Increasing domestic oil production to meet demand is a critical step to lowering gas prices and reducing our reliance on foreign sources,” Manchin and Kelly wrote.

President Biden signed an executive order freezing all new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, shortly after taking office last January. He has since cancelled a number of oil leases. According to a May 11 announcement from The Hill, the administration has now cancelled oil and gas lease sales in Alaska's Cook Inlet and in the Gulf of Mexico. The lease in Alaska would have covered more than 1 million acres. The Hill points out that the administration's announcement comes at a time when Biden’s approval ratings from Americans have plunged on economic issues in particular. Congressional Republicans have also continued to blast the administration’s energy policies after average nationwide gas prices reached an all-time high earlier this week.