There's a war going on along gasoline alley in Millersville that mirrors one taking place on street corners nationwide.
In the battle for customers, a half-dozen service stations and convenience stores are all trying to outdo one another to win the title of cheapest gas station. It's an industrywide price war being watched closely by motorists heading to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving this weekend, as well as by retailers, who are hoping consumers will forget their anxieties about rising fuel costs and hit the malls after loading up on turkey.
Prices at some Maryland stations have dipped below $2 a gallon, about $1.30 less than the peak immediately after Hurricane Katrina.
It's a situation that few economists or consumers would have predicted late last summer when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, pushed fuel prices to record highs and threatened a repeat of the "rockets and feathers" pattern to prices at the pump. Historically, gas prices soar like a rocket in times of crisis and fall like a feather when conditions return to normal.
But an infusion of imported gasoline, changes in consumer behavior and old-fashioned political pressure combined to push prices down almost as fast as they shot up during three very unusual months for the oil industry.
"They [prices] have actually fallen a little faster than we would have expected them to," said Michael Burdette, a senior analyst for the Energy Department.
As of late last week, the Wawa store on Veterans Highway in Anne Arundel County was leading in the race to the bottom, having cut prices twice in 24 hours to a post-Katrina low of $1.999 for regular unleaded - the lowest price Marylanders have seen since March.
"You have to realize that in a month and a half, the price has dropped a dollar a gallon," said Michael Ditch, part-owner of the Benfield Citgo, which has been in business on Veterans Highway for more than 25 years. "We've never seen anything like that before."
Prices at some stations across Maryland have fallen even lower this week, marking a stunning reversal of fortunes for both travelers and retailers as an estimated 37 million Americans - including about 800,000 Marylanders - prepare to load up their cars or board planes for the holiday. Economists say the moderating of energy prices could curb inflation fears and help save what is expected to be a lackluster holiday shopping season.
