Fairfield Drivers Feel the Pain of Filling Tank

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Larissa Lackner was just about out of gas--and money--when she drove into the Mobil Mart on Boston Post Road in Fairfield Friday afternoon.

When she left a few minutes later, the 21-year-old au pair was out of money, and her CRV Honda had little gas.

"I used my last eight dollars and paid 10 cents less for the cash price [$4.05], but there's still hardly any gas in the tank," said Lackner, of Fairfield. "At least this will get me home."

But that means living in Connecticut, where gas prices are now nearly the highest in the country.

After declining in the spring, they are climbing back up. Connecticut now has the dubious distinction of having the highest prices in the contiguous continental United States, the lower 48 without Alaska and Hawaii.

Gas prices in Connecticut are now even higher–at $4.03 per gallon–than in California, about the same as Alaska and just slightly lower than Hawaii–states that have been ranked in the top three the past few years, according to the Automobile Association of America (AAA).

According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, Connecticut is well beyond the $3.81 per gallon price in California, and has just slightly lower prices than Hawaii's $4.06.

And prices in Fairfield County are the highest in Connecticut, at nearly $4.12 per gallon on average, according to AAA.

"Now, that is kind of crazy. Look at the total, can you believe it?" asked Jamie Sanger of Fairfield, pointing to the $78.96 that flashed on the screen after he filled up his 2006 BMW, also at Mobil Mart in Fairfield Friday afternoon.

When state and federal taxes are combined, Connecticut drivers now pay more than 70 cents a gallon in taxes and are among the most highly taxed in the country, according to the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association.

"What do people expect?" said Mike Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, the state's truckers' trade group. "It doesn't make any sense to add taxes–like the one on diesel fuel–at a time when fuel costs are already so high."

Riley said 95 percent of all products that come in and out of Connecticut do so by truck, so higher taxes and gas prices "just hurt the state's economy in every way, and send businesses out of state."

Greg Amy, Connecticut chapter activist for the National Motor Association, said soaring gas prices impact everyone.

"It really changes the way we live," said Amy, of Middletown. "I love to drive, but at four bucks a gallon, even I drive less."

How do you feel about Connecticut gas prices being nearly the highest in the country? Leave a comment below.

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