Gas prices stablize in Wayne
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on September 4, 2005 2:08 AM
From staff and wire reports
Gas prices around Wayne County had stabilized Saturday. Not that the nearly 60-cent drop in some cases mattered much to drivers who don't consider $3.19 a gallon to be much of a bargain. But the upward trend in prices appeared to be over, at least for the time being.
In fact, there were signs that prices were beginning to fall. Unleaded regular at the Chevron station on Berkeley Boulevard decreased from $3.45 per gallon at lunchtime to $3.19 by late afternoon. Across the street at the Comco station, attendants had lowered prices to match the competition.
According to AAA Carolinas, prices were stabilizing across the state as the Labor Day weekend began.
Tom Crosby, vice president of communications at AAA Carolinas, said prices were leveling off in all areas of the state as supplies improved.
"I think we have a good chance to be able to weather the upcoming shortages for the next couple of days," Crosby said.
In Wayne County, unleaded gas was selling for $3.19 per gallon at the Hasty Mart and the Handy Mart stations at the intersection of U.S. 70 and N.C. 111 south on Saturday afternoon. At the BP station a mile further south on N.C. 111, unleaded was $3.39, and a short distance away it was $3.29 at the Pure station.
At the Kangaroo station at the intersection of Arrington Bridge Road and U.S. 117 south, unleaded regular was $3.22 per gallon. At the EZ Mart on U.S. 117 south it was $3.19, the same as at the Handy Mart Exxon near the Neuse River Shopping Center.
The price of unleaded regular was $3.19 at the Citgo station near the Wayne County Fairgrounds. It was $3.29 per gallon at the Hess/Trade Mart on N.C. 55 in Mount Olive, the same as at the Handy Mart a few hundred yards away and at the Exxon station on Breazeale Avenue.
Back in Goldsboro, unleaded regular was $3.21 per gallon at the Wilco/Hess station near the intersection of U.S. 117 south and George Street.
North of Goldsboro, at the Chevron Station at the intersection of North William Street and Fedelon Trail, the price of unleaded regular was $3.19.
The Chevron station on U.S. 117 in Pikeville was selling unleaded regular for $3.39 late Saturday afternoon. But in Fremont, the Citgo station on U.S. 117 was selling unleaded regular at $3.19 a gallon.
Meanwhile, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Friday he would investigate the rapidly rising gas prices of the past week, joining attorneys general from more than 30 states that said they would investigate whether the increases in gas prices was the result of legitimate market forces or whether illegal activity contributed to the problem.
The skyrocketing cost of fuel led the governor of Georgia to suspend that state's motor fuel tax through September.
No similar measure was being contemplated in the Tar Heel state. In North Carolina, the state portion of the tax is 27.35 cents a gallon, which was set by the Legislature. Repealing it for one month would throw the state transportation budget out of balance by $120 million, a governor's spokesman said.