National, local gas prices on the rise

By Jacob Batte

The average price of gasoline nationwide is up to $3.92 per gallon of regular unleaded up 16 cents from just over a month ago. Though Mississippi’s average price is much lower than the national average, its price of $3.76 is also on the rise.

Over the past year there has been much controversy in the Middle East, where the U.S. gets a lot of its natural resources. University of Mississippi economics Professor Mark Van Boening said even the conflicts don’t seem to explain the current rise in price. 

“To be perfectly honest, I don’t really have a very good answer for you,” Van Boening said. “There’s been some uncertainty there, but it doesn’t seem like the uncertainty warrants the increase.”

With production costs largely unchanged, Van Boening pointed to the precarious situation in the Middle East as the likely cause of the increase. However, Van Boening said the magnitude of the increase is surprising considering that the Iranian situation has not had any recent developments.

“The crisis hasn’t gotten any worse with Iran in the past few months,” Van Boening said. “The Saudis said they would increase their input during the boycott of Iranian oil by the U.S. and Europe. So it’s hard to find an economic explanation for prices to be continually rising for the past couple of months.”

Regardless of why gas prices are rising, Ole Miss students are beginning to take notice. Anne McCauley is the project coordinator for the campus office of sustainability, which helps compose alternative transportation in coordination with the university and Oxford.

“We have definitely seen growth,” McCauley said. “I can’t pinpoint it to the rise in gas prices. I think there are many reasons. But this year we’ve seen a tremendous interest in all the alternative programs.”

A problem with alternatives including bikes, rental cars and the bus system is that they are limited to students who live close to campus or near a bus route. In response to this, some students are moving closer to campus to be able to take advantage of these options.

“I’m living in a house that’s a mile from the square, so I basically have to drive everywhere,” said Jordan Henry, an English major from Madison. “I’m going to live closer to campus next year so I can ride a bike or walk so I don’t have to pay as much money for gas.”

(2012 data)