Bristol and area residents continue to deal with fluctuating gasoline prices as latest spike nears $

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Not so long ago, Rodney Monroe paid $750 a week for gas to operate his transportation business at Tri-Cities Regional Airport.

Now, after Bristol-area gas prices jumped 18 cents per gallon in one week, Monroe’s gas bill at Fantasy Limo in Blountville, has reached roughly $1,000.

"I’m to the point now where I have to figure out what I’m going to do," he said. "Do I raise my rates? I don’t want to because I don’t know if [gas] prices are going to level off, go higher or drop back down."

Monroe and his business – which uses four limos, three buses and three sedans – are one several examples of how people in the Tri-Cities have been affected by rising gas prices.

If you’ve been to a gas station lately, you’ve noticed that the price at the pump has shot up to almost $3 in recent weeks – meaning drivers are paying more per gallon every visit to the pump.

AAA East Tennessee spokeswoman Stephanie Milani said rising crude oil prices are to blame for higher gas prices.

"The current price of crude oil is $95 a barrel," Milani said. "And the price of oil has continued to climb over the past several weeks even when we saw gas in the $2.60-range."

Because oil is pumped into refineries across the nation to produce gas, and when the cost of crude oil go up, so do gasoline prices, Milani said.

Oil prices hit a record high of $98.62 a barrel earlier this month, edging up gas prices higher.

"The increased cost of crude oil must ultimately be passed along to consumers, which is occurring now," she said.

The national average price of $3.02 per gallon is up 29 cents from mid-October and 85 cents higher than this time a year ago, according to AAA.

Locally, in Johnson City, the average price was $2.95 a gallon, up 18.6 cents since the week before, and in Kingsport, the average is $2.96.

In Bristol, the average gas price is $2.98, up 18 cents from last Wednesday, according to AAA East Tennessee.

The highest price in the Twin City was $2.99 while the lowest seen Wednesday was $2.95.

With gas prices nearing $3 per gallon, local residents said they were upset about the climbing prices and have had to resort to buying lesser amounts.

"It’s not right that working-class people have to buy gas as it keeps going up," Bristol Virginia resident Wanda Eller said. "It seems like I buy more gas because it’s always running out."

Eller said she remembers in early October when gas was roughly $2.60 a gallon and she could fill up her tank and drive for a week before revisiting a pump.

But now, "this doesn’t even last me a week," she said while filling up her red 1999 Mitsubishi Mirage at the Sunoco station on Commonwealth Avenue.

Dustin Cardwell of Bristol Tennessee, said with current gas prices, he only buys $10 worth, three times a week instead of $15 once or twice a week.

"I spend less at the pump, but have to visit more often," Campbell said while pumping unleaded into his white 2001 Pontiac Grand Am at the Chevron station on Volunteer Parkway.

Cardwell said he started noticing the prices climbing weeks ago, and to him, no end is in sight.

"It seems like every week it goes up, then they tease us with it going up and down," he said.

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