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Editorial: Myths, Misinformation and Propaganda
December 16th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: Will Park Closure Just Make Things Worse?
November 29th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: October and November Surprises
October 30th, 2008

Editorial: Is the Sky Falling?
September 24th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: Who Reads Cedar Key News?
September 19th, 2008

Editorial: The First Hurdle for Every Child
September 3rd, 2008

Editorial: A View of China from Cedar Key
August 18th, 2008

Editorial: Who Killed the Real Estate Market?
August 8th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: It`s Clamerica!
July 1st, 2008

Editorial: Can the City Commission Limit Noise?
June 6th, 2008

Editorial: Unintended Results Rock the Boat
May 29th, 2008

Editorial: Creeping Gas Prices
May 13th, 2008

Editorial: Cedar Key Election Soon
April 30th, 2008

Editorial: Questions fo the Candidates
April 2nd, 2008

Editorial: Coming Elections: National County and City
March 19th, 2008

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Will Gas Prices Go Up?

Will Gas Prices Go Up?

Editorial

NOAA's prediction for the 2006 hurricane season will be announced May 22. Meanwhile, researchers at Colorado State University have concluded that we'll have seventeen hurricanes, with five of them in the severe category. Seventeen is an increase of six over the 2005 season.

Oil production in 2005 was reduced because oil wells and refineries along the Gulf Coast suffered hurricane damage. Twenty percent of the production is still down. When oil supplies are down gas prices go up. Political instability in Venezuela, Nigeria and Iraq has made oil supply even tighter. Lately a barrel of oil sells for over $70.00. A long range estimate of demand for oil includes more demand from China and India where the economies are booming.

Irrespective of the need to reduce fossil fuel consumption, the oil companies are doing very well. The return on shareholder equity in 2005 for Chevron was 22.5%, BP, 22.0%: Exxon-Mobil, 30.5%. Projections for 2006 indicate another good year for oil companies. That suggests that the profit motive combined with hurricanes and political unrest in the oil producing countries explains high gasoline prices at the pump.

At $3.00 a gallon for gasoline, a round trip from Cedar Key to Chiefland takes $6.00 to $10.00 worth of gas. Round trips from Gainesville to Cedar Key for a seafood dinner require about $14.00 for gas. Even if the hurricanes miss Cedar Key (and they usually do) we feel them at the gas pump.

The good news is that tax payers won't have to bail out the oil companies from bankruptcy. The bad news is that one needs to save $6.00 to justify a trip to the Chiefland WalMart. The recommendation of Cedar Key News is a careful look at the EPA estimate of gas mileage on the sticker next to the price tag when buying a new vehicle.

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