Elevated prices earlier in March at a gas pump in Old Jefferson, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge. Photo: Infrogmation via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

By Joseph A. Davis

The price of gasoline and diesel fuel is climbing like, well, a missile. 

Whatever you think of the war in the Middle East, people’s patriotism is being eclipsed by anxiety over fuel prices. That means the whole crisis is an opportunity to report on the environmental implications of burning petroleum.

It makes a big difference in people’s lives.

Not to preach, but one reason it matters is global warming. Cars and trucks are the largest source of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere — at least in the United States. 

Another reason is their contribution to urban smog. Good thing we don’t have to worry about leaded gas anymore.

But high gas prices also take much-needed money out of people’s pockets. You may not be an oil billionaire. 

People who live in rural and Western areas may have to drive long distances daily — or fill their tractors with diesel. Many commercial truck drivers are independent entrepreneurs who pay for fuel out of their own pockets.

Because almost everything we buy is shipped one way or another, higher fuel prices eventually raise the prices of many consumer goods. 

This has happened before, historically. July 2008 crude prices peaked at over $150/barrel, higher than even today, due to a number of factors, including Mideast tensions. (It took a major recession to bring them down.) They had previously peaked in late 1973 in response to a Mideast war and the Arab oil embargo.

If you are old, you may remember lines at gas stations.

• Go to a few gas stations near your local freeway. Talk to customers at the pump about how gas prices are affecting them.
• Go to a few nearby truck stops, by the diesel pumps, and ask truck drivers how the fuel price rise is affecting them.
• If you are in a rural area, go to feed and fertilizer stores, and ask farmers how fuel prices affect them. Ask about fertilizer prices, too. (A lot of fertilizer is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.)
• Go to local car dealers (ideally ones that sell both gas vehicles and EVs). Talk to customers, salespeople and managers about whether interest in EVs is going up.
• If you live in a region where people still use fuel oil for heating (like the Northeast), talk to customers and suppliers about how people are responding to higher fuel prices.
• Federal and state taxes on fuel fund highway construction and maintenance. Talk to your state and federal legislators about any proposals to reduce fuel taxes.
• The federal program called the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program subsidizes home heating costs for low-income people. Although the Trump administration wants to lower its funding, you could ask whether the need is increasing. Check this list of state and tribal contacts.

• Price trackers: Among the sources of fast gas price updates are AAA, GasBuddy and the Energy Information Administration.
• Consumer Energy Alliance: A nonprofit that advocates for lower energy prices for consumers.
• U.S. Oil & Gas Association: An industry trade group that lobbies for higher prices.
• National Consumers League: A nonprofit that educates consumers about vehicle mileage standards, among other things.

[Editor’s Note: For more, see this Backgrounder on how U.S. fuel exports profit industry, but slam consumers. And visit our Topic on the Beat: Energy page for more than three dozen energy-focused SEJournal stories, plus energy headlines from EJToday.]

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 11, No. 13. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.