Expert: Change Gasoline Blend Requirements, Lower Prices
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Chicago, once again, has the highest gas prices in the nation.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Mike Krauser reports, the average is now $4.14 a gallon, and the blame is going to supply problems since a refinery in Joliet went off-line.
One expert says there's a simple solution that would lower prices.
Because we pay city, county, state and federal taxes, experts say, gas is always going to cost more here.
But if you could relax the rules on the boutique summer blend of gas required here by law, it would help a lot says Phil Flynn, Oil industry analyst at PFGBEST Research.
"Its crazy," Flynn said. "I've been saying it for years. The laws regarding the summertime blends of gasoline are broken."
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Problems at one of two refineries that make the stuff, Exxon Mobil in Joliet, he says, jacked the price up for everybody.
"When you have the specifications so exact in the city of Chicago that it can't be sold in Indiana or Wisconsin, it's just ridiculous," Flynn said. "We need to get together as a region and all of us could start enjoying lower prices at the pump."
It was Flynn who predicted a Memorial Day price drop, based on the strength of the dollar.
But he said at the time, as long as there are no refinery problems.
