gas price

(Newser) - As crude oil sank below $50 for the first time in years, gas prices in America continued their precipitous fall, with the average cost of a gallon below $2 today for the first time since 2005. The turnabout is the sharpest since the government began tracking prices in 1980. Suddenly, writes the Wall Street Journal , debate in Washington has shifted from whether the government should give drivers a tax break to whether Congress should hike taxes. More »

(Newser) - Think you’re saving money by driving that small, fuel-efficient car you traded in your SUV for? Maybe, but you’re probably paying more for your insurance—a lot more, reports the Wall Street Journal . In accidents, small cars tend to sustain more damage, and occupants more injures, than larger vehicles. Hence a Honda Civic, for example, incurs higher premiums than the company’s larger SUV CR-V. More »

(Newser) - With gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, car sharing as an alternative to car ownership is finally gaining traction, reports Newsweek. Started 8 years ago, the best-known car-sharing company, Zipcar, rents communal vehicles by the hour or day. Both cost-efficient and eco-friendly, the company charges members about $10 an hour, including gas and insurance. More »

(Newser) - Forced by high gas prices to start walking again, one Los Angeles professor discovered something new: her neighborhood. No longer wanting to drive to a park to walk her dog, Diana Wagman took it through the neighborhood, where she found reburbished homes, furniture on the curb, and—who knew—her neighbors, she writes in the Los Angeles Times . More »

(Newser) - An Orlando man agreed to name his baby after two local radio hosts in exchange for a gift card worth $100 of gasoline, Reuters reports. The listener will collect the card in December, when his son is born, after producing a birth certificate. He's not the only American susceptible to offers of free gas these days: from brothels to churches, fuel has become a better lure than cash. More »

(Newser) - Rental car companies can't meet the soaring demand for more fuel-efficient small cars and are forcing irritated customers to take "upgrades" to gas-guzzlers. Rocketing gas prices are putting pressure on Hertz, Avis, and other companies to sell their luxury cars and SUVs to pay for fuel-efficient models. Bookings for economy cars at one major travel agency were up 14% while the demand for luxury cars plummeted 24%. More »

(Newser) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to forge a bipartisan coalition on domestic oil drilling, Politico reports. Republican senators believe they can sway enough moderate Democrats on an amendment to end a federal ban on coastline drilling—allowing a dramatic shift in US energy policy, and reaping a big victory for the GOP. More »

(Newser) - Florida lottery players have the chance to win "free gas for life," and if that sounds too good to be a second-place prize, it is. The weekly runners-up will get free, but not unlimited, fill-ups worth $2,600 per year—which is unlikely to add up to more than the first prize, the New York Times reports. More »

(Newser) - As oil flirts with $150 a barrel, nearly double its price from last year, the specter of $6 a gallon gas at US pumps has become more real. A plethora of factors—from the threat of conflict with Iran to tight supplies and a weak dollar—continue to exert upward pressure on crude prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

(Newser) - Stealing gas by siphoning it from vehicles is a simple crime that can reap big rewards—and as fuel prices soar, the crime is ever-more tempting for thieves, the Washington Post reports. A Maryland county reported zero or one thefts yearly from 2005 to 2007, but cops have already logged seven this year. Meanwhile, sales of locking gas caps have skyrocketed. More »

(Newser) - Many analysts say there isn't a prayer of gas prices coming down any time soon, but there's a group out there bent on proving them wrong, reports CNS News. The Prayer at the Pump Movement, led by Seventh-Day Adventist Rocky Twyman, has been holding vigils at gas stations across the country asking for divine intervention to lower pump prices. More »

(Newser) - The rest of the world may have thought it would never happen, but energy prices are beginning to change Americans' behavior. Time notes some positive aspects: Jobs lost to globalization return, because energy costs make international shipping unattractive. Suburban sprawl is slowing as people choose to live closer to cities. Many firms are switching to four-day workweeks—the practice saved Florida's Brevard College $268,000 over a summer session. Less pollution as motorists drive less … …and more frugally, both in how they drive and what they drive. More »

(Newser) - How does really expensive fuel affect you? The New York Times Op-Ed page asked 10 writers to ruminate on that question, and the responses are all over the map: The lure of staying home could have workers demanding tax changes that benefit telecommuters, thinks Nicole Belson Goluboff. Say goodbye to suburbia, says Allison Arieff: cities are more efficient. More »

(Newser) - A new poll paints a gloomy picture of a pessimistic America struggling with soaring gas prices and a deteriorating economy—and blaming President Bush. Three of four Americans—including a large number of Republicans—hold the president responsible for the economic downturn, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll. The president's approval rating has sunk to an all-time low of just 23%. His constituency is particularly irritated about his lack of action to stem rocketing gas prices. More »

(Newser) - Soaring gas prices have Californians and Texans racing for the border and braving drug cartel violence to save some $20 per tank filling up in Mexico. American pumps have passed the $4 mark, but Mexican gas is still just $2.66 a gallon thanks to subsidies intended for poor Mexicans. Americans are buying it up instead, triggering a 50% surge in sales—and Mexican gas shortages, reports the New York Times. More »

(Newser) - General Motors is offering no-interest financing for up to 6 years on a selection of its 2008 automobiles in an effort to boost US sales, which plummeted 16% in May, Bloomberg reports. Soaring gas prices have hurt sales across the board, and falling trade-in values and general tightening of purse-strings have left fewer Americans looking for new cars. More »

(Newser) - Rock-bottom airfares are going the way of the zeppelin as fuel prices continue their climb into the stratosphere, the New York Times reports. Some budget carriers have gone bust. Others have hiked fares and begun to woo more business travelers, blurring the line between big carriers and discount operations. Southwest and JetBlue have ditched their caps on fares, with JetBlue doubling its one-way cross-country fare to as much as $599. More »

(Newser) - The price of gasoline quadrupled over the last decade, but Americans responded by driving more and more in ever-larger gas guzzlers as if nothing had changed. But $4 gas combined with an economic black hole may have finally gotten the message across, reports the New York Times, as American gasoline consumption is set for its first annual decline in 17 years. More »

(Newser) - Higher gas prices are forcing Native American tribal governments to cut back on transportation services, reports Reznet News. The Rosebud Sioux tribe provides its police, education and social services departments with transportation, as well as rides for the elderly and trips to medical appointments. But with coffers running on empty, the South Dakota tribe is changing its driving practices, reallocating funding—and may be forced to shelve programs entirely. More »