The closer you get to the city the more expensive gas is. Gas in the burbs (Elmhurst for example) is much cheaper than places near the city (Morton Grove/Niles etc). Supply an demand type thing.

 

That is not entirely true. The reason a person in a heavely populated area pays more than say a person out in the sticks is because different additives need to be used to make it a cleaner burning fuel. Same thing during summer, the reason it goes up everywhere then is because more are driving there for they have to put different additives in it to make it cleaner to reduce emmisions. But reports are that green house emmisions from automobils are next to nothing anymore. There are more people and cars now granted but the fuel now is really efficiant, clean burning and cars also emmit a ton less because of technology. It's like my car, back even 20 years ago nobody could dream of getting the performance I do and maintaining the milage that I get. I was driving home tonight at 60mph with my cruise on in 6th gear and I was no lie maintaining 38 to 43mpg. Up hills, down hills, around curves, and so on so it was not like a flat strait freeway. Matter of fact the Z06 is the only car to ever have over 500hp and not get hit with the federal gas guzzler tax. Back to the point though back even in the 90's if you told a person that a car was coming out that was rated at 28mpg on the highway and run 11's in the 1/4 mile they would have spit what ever they were drinking in your face.

These types of charges(up and down for different grades/cleaner fuels) I can live with. It is just the outright gouging that burns me up. Them taking advantage of a war, a hurricane, and anything they can think of because they know for a fact that we have to buy it. It's like releasing a deadly strand of the flu and charging $20,000 for a vaccine. It may be legal but it does not make it right and people should fight back at all cost.

 

YES!!! And you know what, something like this was in place with the mileage standards set by the CAFE legislation under Carter. Unfortunately, some idiot named Reagan had to be elected president who cut these standards along with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia flooding the oil market in the 80s looking to bankrupt Iran. Oh how politics and resources dance in an endless wonder.

Hate to break it to you, but it's more the oil companies that aren't into refineries. It hasn't been profitable in the short term to build a refinery as a U.S. company for over thirty years. Us treehuggers would just like to see oil done away with entirely as a fuel. Luckily for others however Deutch Royal Shell announced a month or so ago it was planning on building a new U.S. refinery within the next few years.

Here's the bad and ugly of it all. The gravy train's going to come to a halt someday and the closer we get to the end of the ride the more oil/gas is going to be expensive. Add China and India's growing demand and it just adds to the "problem" which in my view should be seen as a challenge to get off oil dependency. And for all of you moaning out there, I hear ya. I just paid $3.69 a gallon to fill up my baby with primo and it will be higher (around $4) when I go to San Francisco next weekend. But that's why I live my Civic. It's not a Suburban. Amen.