At some Massachusetts gas stations, it’s 2008 all over again.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the Commonwealth is $3.391 and climbing upward, according to AAA. However, there are parts of the state where the cost exceeds $4 per gallon — sometimes well over $4 per gallon.
The islands off Cape Cod are two places where this is happening. The cost of a gallon of regular gasoline on both Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket is well over $4 per gallon, depending on the location. As of this past weekend, the Mobil in Edgartown charges $4.40 for a gallon of regular gas while the nearby Shell charges $4.30 per gallon. Meanwhile, in Vineyard Haven, the Shell also charges $4.30 per gallon.
Gas is even more expensive on Nantucket. At the Mobil on Airport Road, gas is $4.50 per gallon; it’s also $4.50 per gallon at the Shell on Sparks Avenue. Additionally, the Mobil on Orange Street charges $4.38 per gallon now while the locally-owned On Island Gas on Sparks Avenue is charging $4.30 per gallon.
While the islands offer the most expensive gas options in the Commonwealth, they’re not the only places with gas stations charging $4 per gallon.
NewBostonPost identified three places where it’s happening on the mainland.
The Mobil on West Street in Wilmington near the highway is charging $4.10 per gallon of regular gas, as is the Mobil off the highway in Tewksbury. Additionally, the Mobil on Washington Street in Norwell has reached $4 per gallon of regular gas on the South Shore.
NewBostonPost was first told about the Mobil in Tewskbury’s gas rate by Paul Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
Craney told NewBostonPost in an email message that these high prices are hurting consumers and a reason why the state government shouldn’t increase fees on carbon.
Craney said that the current circumstances make the proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative carbon fee on fuel providers potentially catastrophic.
“Gas prices are the highest they’ve been in nearly a decade,” Craney said by email. “This impacts working people and the poor the most. Ordinary people need gas to do the most basic tasks of life. Only the affluent and elites will not feel the increased gas prices. Governor Charlie Baker should put the needs of ordinary and working class Massachusetts residents ahead of his aspirations for a TCI gas tax. The TCI gas tax will increase fuel prices to $5, $6, or $7 a gallon. Who can afford that?”
Christopher Carlozzi, the Massachusetts director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses agreed; he noted that high fuel costs affect the cost of doing business in the state.
“When fuel prices rise it not only impacts consumers, but also increases the cost of operating a small business in Massachusetts,” Carlozzi told NewBostonPost in an email message. “That means products, services, and commuting to a job become more expensive and less affordable at a time when supply chain disruptions are already resulting in record high prices.
“This is also why Massachusetts must reconsider joining the costly Transportation and Climate Initiative that will only further drive up fuel costs through new taxes levied on the backs of consumers filling their tanks at the pump,” he added.
Mary Maguire, who serves as the Massachusetts spokesman for AAA Northeast, said that high crude oil prices are causing the current price increases — not necessarily demand for gasoline.
“We’ve been seeing the highest crude oil and gasoline prices since 2014,” Maguire told NewBostonPost in an email message. “This past August, crude oil was closing every day in the low $60 a barrel range ($62, $63), and for several weeks now, the price of a barrel of oil has been in the low $80’s per barrel range–$83.91 this morning. Because crude oil costs account for more than half the price of a gallon of gas, higher crude oil prices boost prices at the pump.”
She also said the higher prices on the islands don’t surprise her because there are added transportation costs and not many gas stations, limiting competition which is an incentive to lower prices.
The press office for Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker could not be reached for comment.
New to NewBostonPost? Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts. But you’ve found it. Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months. And join the real revolution.
DIGITAL CAMERA 
