The Road Worrier today (see column with lots of comments) reports that Americans paid more on average for gas in 2011 than ever before, and that prices are climbing sharply.

And asks the rhetorical question: Where's the outrage?

I put it that way because I have interviewed lots of motorists about gas prices ever since gas prices became an issue – since well before March 15, 2005, when the Triangle average price for regular clicked above $2 for the first time.  There was plenty of shock and dismay then, and again when the price passed $3 on Sept. 3, 2005 (and again, since you ask, when we hit $4 on June 17, 2008).  Lately, though, folks seem more resigned to high gas prices.

Sure enough, lots of readers responded to express outrage. ... [MORE]

Next week we'll see the price of gasoline climb as the state adds 3.9 cents to the tax on each gallon and the federal government removes a 4.5 cent tax break on the ethanol blended into each gallon of gas. (See today's story with plenty of reader comments.)

But gas prices aren't waiting for the New Year. They're rising this week.

Tom Kloza, an oil analyst who blogs for the Oil Price Information Service, tells me we may have seen prices bottom out during the week before Christmas.  Most Americans avoided having to pay as much as $4 a gallon this year, but Kloza reckons we could break that unhappy barrier before next summer. 

In email yesterday Kloza said:

January could be a little fitful but I suspect that prices will rally between Presidents’ Day and Cinco de Mayo.  A typical rally would push prices well above $4 gal, and even a half-hearted rally gets us nearly to that point.

The average Triangle price for self-service regular hit its peak for 2011 in mid-May, at $3.872 a gallon.  It has dropped in recent months and fell below $3.23 last week.  Since then the price has climbed a bit, to $3.258 today.  Several Raleigh stations were pricing regular as low as $3.17 this afternoon.

Pump prices are falling, but North Carolina's gas tax will rise by 3.9 cents on January 1 to an all-time high of 38.9 cents a gallon, the N.C. Department of Revenue said.

Only four states have higher gas taxes. Fortunately, if recent price trends continue, drivers can expect the North Carolina tax rate to fall again next July.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly cut other taxes and curbed state spending this year. But legislators also increased state spending for roads and bridges -- and they could not agree on whether to limit the state gas tax, which pays for more than half the total transportation budget.

The House voted overwhelmingly in November to cap the tax at its current level, 35 cents. But the Senate adjourned without taking up the bill, so the law allowing a tax increase Jan. 1 was left unchanged. ... [MORE]

Terrance M. Marks, The Pantry CEO whose has led the convenience-store chain’s aggressive turnaround strategy in recent years, is resigning to take a position in Atlanta.

The Cary-based company said in a release that Marks will depart within the next 60 days and be replaced on an interim basis by Edwin Holman, chairman of The Pantry’s Board of Directors.

Since taking over as CEO in September 2009, Marks had gotten generally high marks for his efforts to remodel some of The Pantry’s stores and add more fresh foods to its product offerings.

It will be important for The Pantry to find a replacement who can maintain that momentum, said Ben Brownlow, an analyst with Morgan Keegan.

“I think it does create some uncertainty,” Brownlow said. “Departing now isn’t the ideal time.”

Pantry officials declined to comment today beyond what was in the release.

Crude oil prices have fallen 30 percent since May, the Associated Press says, to around $82 a barrel as of yesterday.

Retail gasoline prices haven't plummeted yet. But they've started to fall a bit.

Meanwhile, it's pretty clear that North Carolina wholesalers and retailers have finally started passing along to consumers the full burden of the 2.5-cent gas tax increase that took effect July 1. ... [MORE]

We’re paying more for gas in North Carolina because of a big tax increase that took effect July 1. Or are we?

The change added 2.5 cents to the tax on each gallon of gas and diesel fuel. That’s 25 cents more for a 10-gallon fill-up.

But when you look around the country and in nearby states where taxes stayed the same, you might think North Carolina’s gas tax went down – not up. Prices elsewhere have risen faster than ours, and North Carolina’s gas tax hike feels strangely painless.

So far. ... [MORE]

If you plan to drive somewhere this weekend, you might want to buy your gas Thursday.

Triangle gas prices have fallen 40 cents in the past six weeks, and that’s one reason why the AAA Carolinas motor club predicts a busy holiday travel weekend.

But those lower prices will surely click a few pennies higher before the weekend actually arrives – thanks to a tax hike scheduled to hit the pumps Friday.

North Carolina’s per-gallon tax on gas and diesel fuel will rise from an all-time high 32.5 cents through Thursday to an all-time even-higher 35 cents starting Friday, the first day of July. ... [MORE]

Gas prices are falling as we head toward the first big travel weekend of summer, and the AAA Carolinas motor club says more North Carolinians are planning road trips for the Memorial Day holiday.

If you're driving south this weekend, you might want to tank up in South Carolina, where the state average price of $3.573 is the nation's lowest, according to the Oil Price Information Service.

Triangle drivers are paying an average $3.705 a gallon for self-service regular. That's down a dime in just the past week, but nearly a dollar more than we paid a year ago.

Why is our gas more expensive than South Carolina's? Most of the difference is in taxes.  North Carolina adds 32.8 cents in tax and inspection fees to the price of each gallon (only 12 states have higher gas taxes).  South Carolina's gas tax is only 16.8 cents, lower than all but three states' rates, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

AAA cites the recent gas price drop, and an improvement in unemployment numbers, in its prediction that 865,000 North Carolinians will travel this weekend, mostly by car -- a 3 percent increase over last year's Memorial Day numbers. ... [MORE]

With Triangle gas prices climbing sharply, now an average $3.73 for a gallon of regular (see Tuesday's Road Worrier, with reader comments), this is a good time to brush up on tips for getting more miles out of every tankful.

So the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University will hold a free "Drive Green Save Green" workshop TODAY (an earlier blog post gave the wrong day, sorry) from 12:30 to 4:45 p.m. at the McKimmon Center on Gorman Street at Western Boulevard in Raleigh.

Participants will learn about techniques and technologies for improving fuel economy. And they'll have a chance to test their new skills on a five-mile driving course, using a special gauge that tracks instant and average miles per gallon.  See www.cleantransportation.org for agenda and registration information.

This is getting ridiculous. Gas prices keep climbing and climbing. Now Triangle drivers are paying an average $3.426 for regular, and lots of stations are charging more than $3.55.

That's an increase of nearly 25 cents in the past week.  The U.S. Energy Information Administration has not seen prices climb so fast in a week since September 2005, when Hurricane Katrina shut down the Gulf of Mexico refineries. [3/4/11 update: today's average is up another 4 cents to $3.468.]

Why does the chaos in Libya -- which produces 2 percent of the world's petroleum -- have such a huge impact on gas prices?  To save breath here, let's stipulate that some readers will repeat their charge that it's President Obama's fault.

Or it might be more complicated than that. ... [MORE]