If most gasoline stations didn't have electronic price signs, they'd probably have to hire people just to keep track of fuel prices that yo-yo daily. The average price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded gasoline in Washington has jumped 37 cents this week alone. And it's up 74 cents on average in the past month.
In Coeur d' Alene, just east of the state line, prices are a bit lower than in Washington - anywhere from $2.00 and a couple of pennies to about $2.15 a gallon. But the cost has jumped more than 60 cents a gallon just in the past month or so.
What's going on? AAA blames most of the increases on an explosion last month at a big ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance California. Dave Carlson, AAA's public affairs chief in Idaho compared the explosion and subsequent refinery shutdown to a big rock tossed into a quiet pond.
Until this month, Idaho drivers had paid some of the lowest prices in the nation, after being soaked for some of the highest in the last half of 2014. Even with the sudden spike in gasoline prices, fuel should not soar to 2014 levels because of an oversupply of crude oil and puny prices for it.
