Gas Prices

Eyeing the Royal Farms sign advertising a gallon of premium gas for $3.99, Taryn Gross-Ojekwe's jaw fell open. "When it is going to cease?" she said of the price, which has climbed steadily over the past few weeks. "Just within the last few days, it was $3.79. " As a freelance upholsterer, the Baltimore resident doesn't have a big enough income to brush off a quarter increase per gallon. The Nissan Sentra she parked at the pump on Russell Street on Monday afternoon now consumes about $60 at each fill-up.

More Marylanders will be celebrating July Fourth away from home this year, according to AAA, which is forecasting the steepest increase in travel in more than a decade. An estimated 846,000 Marylanders will travel at least 50 miles to their destinations, a 5.3 percent increase from last year, and the majority will drive, the organization said Thursday. Because the holiday falls on a Wednesday, AAA projected six days of travel — one more than last year. Decreasing gas prices are the likely explanation behind the increase in drivers.

Isn't it funny, when gas prices were going up all we heard from the Republicans was how gas prices were totally President Barack Obama's responsibility, and how every cent we were paying was all due to his administration. Oh yes, the Republicans told us, President Obama controls gas prices himself, and it was all his fault that gas was over $4 a gallon. But what do you know, gas prices have been going back down again. And since the Republicans swore on their "honor" that everything is totally under Mr. Obama's control, that can only mean that it is entirely President Obama and no one else that has brought those prices back down for us. Thank you so much, Mr. President!

Dear Mr. President: So far your election strategy can best be summed up as: "We're on the right track, my economic policies are working, we still have a long way to go, but stick with me and you'll be fine. " I'm afraid this won't be enough to win you the election. The recovery is too anemic, and the chance of an economic stall between now and Election Day far too high. Even now, Mitt Romney's empty "I'll do it better" refrain is attracting as many voters as your "we're on the right track.

The argument for increasing oil production in the U.S. to decrease gas prices at the pump has sparked passionate debate, but it undervalues the influence of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In recent years, OPEC has shown an ability to manipulate the price of oil around the world, making it unlikely for an increase in U.S. oil production to reduce gas prices. However, this unfortunate fact has a silver lining: OPEC's need to sustain its market base and hold off the alternative energy industry is likely to keep oil prices from skyrocketing.

Maryland has joined a club to which most don't want to belong: States where the average gas price is $4 or more per gallon. According to AAA Mid-Atlantic Thursday, Maryland's average gas price hit $4 a gallon, or 6 cents than the national average. In Baltimore, motorists pay an average of $3.99 a gallon, down from $3.65 a year ago. The difference between gas prices across the state is about 50 cents. The priciest fuel, at $4.30 a gallon, is sold in Bethesda; while motorists can find gas as low as $3.80 per gallon in Kennedyville on the Upper Eastern Shore to Ridgely in Caroline County, AAA reported.

Never have I agreed more with Susan Reimer than I did with her column on gas prices ("Driving force behind high gas prices: me," April 2). Has anyone ever seen more than 10 percent of cars with more than one person within and each one with an unnecessary errand? There still remains primarily one 150-pound person per 3,000-pound automobile, and they all have trouble entering the highway. They all, like I, will start a car and drive two miles just to pick up a tube of toothpaste, so why get upset?

As Baltimoreans watch gas prices soar above $4, it's worth asking: why don't we have a better public transportation system? Do we lack the imagination? In decades past, we had the imagination to fund and build our port, our tunnels and bridges, and what is now BWI Thurgood Marshall airport. They're vital everyday elements of life in Maryland now, but they took conviction at the time to build. Today, our legislators need a similar conviction to fund and build the east-west Red Line transit project.

Gasoline prices continue to climb, and the Republican presidential candidates would have us believe that this is the direct result of President Barack Obama's energy policies. They say that if only he would get out of the way of the oil companies and stop dreaming up ever more environmental regulations, we'd all be paying $2.50 a gallon. They are wrong, of course. Gasoline prices are high because demand is high. And while the unquenchable thirst for petroleum in India and China has a place it all of this, it is mostly my fault.

Campaigning for office, President Barack Obama promised to do something about high gas prices, but now he is denying he can do much about what Americans pay to drive. He is too modest. In September 2008, Steven Chu said to The Wall Street Journal: "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe" - and Barack Obama picked him to be secretary of the Department of Energy. When President Obama was inaugurated, gas was selling for $1.90 a gallon, and it is now nearly $4. Not quite European levels, but doubling gas prices is a good start.