Recent Gas News

Detroit News - Auto Insider -- More than four months after the House voted to reverse the closing of more than 2,000 auto dealerships, time is running short to get a deal done this year.

GM and Chrysler and many members of Congress want a "non-legislative fix." The Obama administration also opposes efforts to reverse the dealer closings. One proposal is to have some arbitration process for an unspecified number of the closing dealers  (go to article)

Detroit News - Auto Insider - AP -- The European Union will host a high-level meeting between GM and EU governments next week to discuss restructuring plans and aid for the troubled Opel unit, officials said Wednesday.

He said GM was looking for around euro3.3 billion ($4.9 billion) in loans from European governments to finance redundancies as well as restructuring. He said this was less than the euro4-5 billion required by Canadian carmaker Magna, which had bid to buy GM's European operations  (go to article)

mnn.com -- Drivers with these policies only charged for number of miles driven, creating an economic incentive for those who drive less.

Last month, California moved one step closer to allowing pay-as-you-drive policies that would allow drivers to buy insurance as needed, according to a recent article by The Sacramento Bee.

According to the Bee, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner recently released "regulations permitting and authorizing mileage verification for pay-as-you-drive, without dictating what form such plans must take."

Much like pre-paid phones, pay-per-mile policies only charge insurance for the amount of miles used, so if people drive less, their car insurance will be cheaper.

Environmentalists are hoping a change in policy creates a change in behavior: that  (go to article)

CNET News -- ...While the sun is shining, giant heliostats reflect sunlight into a center pool of hot, liquefied salt that absorbs the heat. The molten salt, which can be kept hot even at night or on cloudy days for up to 24 sunless hours, is used to feed a steam-generated turbine to make electricity. The salt is then redirected out of the generator to be reheated and used again.

...The Alcazar solar-thermal power project is set to break ground in 2010. It is expected to generate 750 construction jobs and 75 facility operation jobs, according to the companies.

...Once fully operational, the plant is expected to generate over 300,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, roughly enough to power 70,000 Spanish homes.  (go to article)

IHS CERA | -- The report, The Future of Global Oil Supply: Understanding the Building Blocks extends IHS CERA's global oil outlook through 2030 and expects global oil productive capacity to grow to as much as 115 million barrels per day (mbd) through that period from the current level of 92 mbd -- a 25 percent increase. Post-2030 supply could struggle to meet demand but this would take the form of a decades-long "undulating plateau" rather than a sharp fall, the report says.  (go to article)

Reuters -- The co-founders of Aptera Motors, Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, did not leave the three-wheeled electric car startup by choice, according to a report this morning over at Wired’s Autopia. Rather, unnamed sources tell the blog that Fambro and Anthony were pushed out in “a boardroom confrontation between the original founders and the auto industry veterans” brought onto the Aptera executive team last year.

Darryl Siry, former marketing chief for electric car startup Tesla Motors, writes that “the first sign of a rift” at the company may have been the design shift Aptera announced shortly after hiring Paul Wilbur as president and CEO in September 2008: Instead of bringing the futuristic-looking 2e (then called the Typ-1) to market by the end of that year, as previously planned, the startup  (go to article)

TheStreet -- The central bank has made it clear that it will be holding rates at exceptionally low levels for the foreseeable future, pumping liquidity into the markets and causing the bubble to expand. We all know what happens with bubbles -- eventually they burst.  (go to article)

USA Today -- Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen top the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is giving its top safety pick today to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year, and Ford and its subsidiary Volvo received the most picks, six. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.  (go to article)

The Associated Press -- Top executives with more than a dozen companies, including Nissan Motor Co., Fedex Corp., electric utility PG&E Corp. and battery developers A123 Systems Inc. and Johnson Controls-Saft, announced the formation of the Electrification Coalition to lay the groundwork for millions of electric cars to reach U.S. highways.  (go to article)

CNN -- NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Are cash-strapped American consumers on for another date with energy price misery?

The U.S. economy remains weak and one in six Americans can't find enough work. Yet oil prices have risen steadily this year. A barrel of crude costs $79 and change, more than double its price at the end of 2008.

This year's runup pales in comparison to the one that peaked last summer above $145 a barrel. Even so, some researchers warn we could once again be approaching the point at which rising energy costs will squeeze consumers.

That could complicate recovery in an economy that, despite the tumult of the past two years, remains as consumer-driven as ever.  (go to article)

CNN -- If you could use a car now and again but don't want to buy one, German automaker Daimler has a possible solution for you. At least if you live in Austin, Tex.

For now, the program involves 200 Smart ForTwos and is available only to Austin's 13,000 city employees. The program will be opened to other participants "at some point," Daimler said in a press release.

Austin city employees can rent a Smart ForTwo for cross-town trips for 35 cents a minute. When they're done, they leave the car at a parking space near their destination for someone else to use. The 35 cent-per-minute rate includes gas and insurance. The cars can be used for either work or personal trips.

Daimler, which makes the Smart car, already operates a similar program in the city of Ulm, Germany and, on Tuesday, ...  (go to article)

ABC News -- Nineteen cars and eight SUVs earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award for 2010.

The award recognizes vehicles that do the best job in the institute's tests of protecting people in front, side, rear and rollover crashes.

Subaru was the only car manufacturer to have winners in all four classes in which it competes. The manufacturer won five awards overall for 2010.

Ford and its subsidiary, Volvo, won six awards, compared with Volkswagen's and Audi's five, and Chrylser's four.

Cars from the largest automakers, however, were noticeably absent. A news release issued by the Insurance Institute noted that while Toyota and its Lexus and Scion subsidiaries did well in 2009 with 11 award winners, they were completely shut out this year.

 (go to article)

Fox News -- 2012 Ram Doblo?

During the recent presentation of Chrysler's five-year plan, a lot of information about the types of new cars and trucks coming in the next few years was revealed, but few images of what they will actually look like. Well, here's a sneak peek at one.

A version of the new 2010 Fiat Doblo small van will likely show up in the United States in 2012, carrying the name and face of the new Ram truck brand. Available in a number of styles ranging from this cargo model to a 7-passenger family carrier, the highly-styled Doblo should match up well against the recently introduced Ford Transit Connect in the marketplace.

 (go to article)

MSNBC -- For the many GM watchers who were expecting a quarterly loss north of $2 billion from the automaker, the $1.2 billion loss it actually reported for the third quarter came as a pleasant surprise.

Deutsche Bank auto analyst Rod Lache, who predicted a more than $2.2 billion loss, had anticipated GM would finish the third quarter with far less money in the bank. The automaker wound up with “considerably more cash than was widely expected,” Lache acknowledged.

But the head of the national Republican party, Michael Steele, might have been talking about an entirely different company, to hear his take on the “new” GM’s finances. Steele said the loss was “further proof that President Obama’s economic experiments are wrong for America.”
 (go to article)

AP -- Oil prices extended gains to near $80 a barrel Wednesday, supported by a weaker dollar and as a report showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude supplies, suggesting demand could be improving.
 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- U.S. travel during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend will rise 1.4 percent from last year as consumer confidence improves, AAA said today.

About 38.4 million travelers are expected to travel 50 miles or more away from home this year, compared with 37.8 million last year, AAA said.

The projected increase in Thanksgiving travel “is another hopeful sign that economic conditions are stabilizing and improving,” AAA’s director of travel services, Glen MacDonell, said in the statement. “The gradual recovery we have been seeing in the U.S. travel industry since the start of the summer is continuing.”

 (go to article)

Grist -- Solar panel prices have plummeted so much as to make viable the prospect of generating gigawatts of electricity from rooftops and photovoltaic farms built near cities.“This has pretty significant implications in terms of transmission planning,” Ryan Pletka, Black & Veatch’s renewable energy project manager... “What we thought would happen in a five-year time frame has happened in one year.”

That’s prompted Pletka to radically revise the potential for so-called distributed generation—solar systems that can plug into the existing grid without the construction of new transmission lines...

“I’ve worked in renewables since the ‘90s and I myself had written off solar PV for years and years and years,” Pletka says. “That’s a firmly rooted mindset among everyone who works from a tradit  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- Looking back at past Wednesdays, I think this is the easiest weekend forecast to make in quite some time. Prices are definitely trending higher again, with wholesale prices up some 6-cents compared to last week.

Gasoline prices will slowly rise this weekend just about everywhere. Prices have already risen as much as 30-cents per gallon in the Midwest, with Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky all showing higher prices overnight.



By next Monday, the U.S. average will rise to $2.698 while prices in Canada will remain relatively stable near 101c/L.

However, there will be exceptions. Prices in California may fall a small amount as wholesale prices for California blended fuel fall below levels ...  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- Shoppers looking to buy the safest 2010-model cars will have 67 fewer choices this year than they did in 2009. That's because the test for safety ratings got a lot tougher.

A new roof-strength requirement aimed at protecting passengers in rollover crashes cut the number of top-rated vehicles to 27 for the 2010 model year, compared with 94 in 2009. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety added the roof test to the already-rigorous tests it uses to address increasingly specific circumstances under which drivers and passengers are injured and killed in collisions.

 (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.

Legislation on health care, overhauling financial markets and job creation will be considered before the Senate takes up a measure to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to climate change, Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday.

 (go to article)

Foxbusiness.com -- NEW YORK -- Energy stocks traded flat in early action on Wednesday despite a weekly inventory report by the American Petroleum Institute that showed an unexpected draw in crude oil supplies. The NYSE Arca Oil Index rose 0.2% to 1,105 despie losses in the broad equities market. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index dipped 0.2% to 517. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index traded fractionally lower at 202. Crude oil for December delivery rose 95 cents, or 1.2%, to $80.09 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Crude supplies dropped by 4.37 million barrels during the week ended Nov. 13, the API said late Tuesday. Analysts polled by Platts expected a rise of 1.2 million barrels. The Energy Information Administration will report its more closely watched inventories data at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.

 (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. narrowed the field to replace Chief Financial Officer Ray Young to two executives from outside the auto industry and may make a choice by year’s end, two people close to the matter said.

Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson has hired Crist Kolder Associates, an executive search firm, to help in the
 (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The cost of living in the U.S. rose more than forecast in October as Americans paid more for fuel, while so-called core prices held at a pace that supports the Federal Reserve’s forecast for tame inflation.

The 0.3 percent rise in the consumer-price index followed a 0.2 percent increase in September, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Excluding food and energy costs, the core index rose 0.2 percent for a second month.

 (go to article)

nytimes.com -- Suntech Power, China’s largest solar panel manufacturer, plans to open its first American plant near Phoenix, the company announced on Monday. It would be the first time a Chinese solar company has built a manufacturing plant in the United States, experts said.

The plant will begin production in the third quarter of 2010 and will build panels from solar cells shipped from China. Those cells, in turn, contain substantial amounts of a substance called polysilicon manufactured at a factory in Texas.

Roger Efird, a managing director of Suntech, said in a telephone interview that shipping costs were an important factor in the decision to put a factory in the growing American market. Solar panels, with substantial amounts of glass and aluminum, are heavy, he said.

“As the price of solar  (go to article)

CNN Money -- The government's key inflation measure came in higher than expected due to a 6.3% jump in oil and gas prices.  (go to article)

Reuters -- SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The venture capital arm of Chevron Corp (CVX.N) has teamed up with a group promoting clean technology that believes success for new ideas is far more likely if established partners are involved.

The second-largest U.S. oil company said it wants early access to renewable energy technology through its partnership with nonprofit group Cleantech Open, set up in 2006 to support start-ups focused on energy, environmental and economic challenges.

The group feels partners such as Chevron can offer both advice and potential markets to entrepreneurs.  (go to article)

Canadian Driver -- Munich, Germany – BMW is not a company you’d normally associate with hybrid cars – perhaps because few people associate “hybrid” with “performance” – for so long one of BMW’s hallmarks.

Well, that’s about to change, because the German automaker will launch not one, but two hybrid models in the next six months, starting with the X6 ActiveHybrid this December, and following it up in the spring of 2010 with the ActiveHybrid 7 that you see here.  (go to article)

ABS CBN News -- MANILA – A marathon that is not based on speed, breaking records and finishing first is set to kick off next year in Malaysia, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (PSPC) announced Wednesday.

The Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) Asia will instead declare as winner the vehicle that has traveled the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel.

The inaugural SEM will be held from July 8 to 10 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 107 teams will come from participating schools in Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Pakistan, Iran, Singapore, China, Malaysia, India and the Philippines.  (go to article)

reuters.com -- A looming government clampdown on CO2 emissions is about to confront an already embattled U.S. coal power industry with two stark options: capture carbon or die.

Legislation from Congress or tough new regulatory demands could make it costly to spew greenhouse gases, posing a serious threat to the nation's coal-fired power plants.

With coal the single biggest source of carbon emissions, industry backers are pinning their hopes on technology to trap and store these emissions blamed for heating up the planet.

Carbon capture technology is far from a done deal, however. Unproven on a commercial scale, the process is extremely expensive and there are a multitude of safety concerns.

"Right now we have politicians making promises about the technology of carbon capture and sequestrati
 (go to article)

CTV.Ca -- A spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveals which vehicles are the top safety picks for 2010.

WASHINGTON — Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen sit atop the insurance industry's annual list of the safest  (go to article)

CBC News -- In early 2008, Tata's automotive division unveiled its much-anticipated vehicle, the Nano, to the masses. With a price tag of $2,500 US, it brings car ownership within reach for hundreds of millions of people who otherwise would never consider buying a car.
.
Luxurious, it is not.

 (go to article)

Forbes -- The Energy Department will likely report a 1.2 million-barrel build in crude oil reserves on Wednesday for the week ended Nov. 13, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The Energy Information Administration releases its weekly report at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Platts also expects gasoline stockpiles to rise by 950,000 barrels, distillate stocks to decline by 700,000 barrels and refinery utilization to increase 0.3 percentage point to 80.2 percent.

A reading above or below estimates can influence market trading.

Last Thursday, the EIA said for the week ended Nov. 6 crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels to 337.7 million barrels;
 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Commodities rose as the recovering world economy spurred demand for raw materials, sending gold to a record and mining stocks higher. Oil advanced for a third day as the dollar fell.

Crude oil climbed to $80.07 a barrel at 11:57 a.m. in London as gold for immediate delivery reached a record for the second day this week, touching $1,149.40 an ounce. Copper jumped 2.3 percent to a 14-month high as the Dollar Index declined. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Basic Resource Index gained 1.8 percent, led by Fresnillo Plc, the Mexican silver producer, and U.S. stock-index futures increased.
 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Canada’s dollar gained against its U.S. counterpart as oil prices advanced and a government report showed consumer prices rose at an annual rate for the first time in five months.

“Inflation that looks like it will rise beyond the Bank of Canada’s 2 percent comfort level over the next year puts pressure on the bank to raise interest rates,” said Camilla Sutton, Toronto-based director of currency strategy at Bank of Nova Scotia, the nation’s third-biggest bank, before the report was released. That will “benefit the Canadian dollar.”

Canada’s currency gained 0.4 percent to C$1.0465 per U.S. dollar at 7:06 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0510 yesterday.
 (go to article)

Houston Chronicle -- World oil production will continue to grow in the next two decades, according to a Cambridge Energy Research Associates study, despite recent trends that have bolstered the arguments of some that "Peak Oil" is imminent.

"A radically different oil markets landscape has evolved in the past year," says Peter Jackson, a senior director at IHS-CERA . "A drop in demand caused by the economic recession has provided a supply cushion that has moved supply concerns to the backburner for the next few years."

No oil shortage anytime soon, says IHS-CERA.

Production will grow from the current level of 92 million barrels per day to as much as 115 million barrels per day by 2030, CERA says, based on a study of more than 1,000 oil fields.
 (go to article)

Forbes -- Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen sit atop the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.

The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its "top safety pick" on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.

 (go to article)

CNN Money -- NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Are cash-strapped American consumers on for another date with energy price misery?

The U.S. economy remains weak and one in six Americans can't find enough work. Yet oil prices have risen steadily this year. A barrel of crude costs $79 and change, more than double its price at the end of 2008.

This year's runup pales in comparison to the one that peaked last summer above $145 a barrel. Even so, some researchers warn we could once again be approaching the point at which rising energy costs will squeeze consumers.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Twenty-seven vehicles earned the top safety rating in an insurance-industry group’s 2010-model crash tests, less than a third of the number a year earlier after a measure of performance in rollover accidents was added.

The top picks did the best job of protecting in front, side and rear collisions, as well as rollover crashes, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said in a report today. Ford Motor Co. had the most cars on the list, while Subaru, the auto brand of Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., was the only manufacturer with winners in all vehicle classes in which it competes.

Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles were shut out and the number of vehicles on the list fell from a record 94 for the 2009 model year after the institute added a roof-strength gauge  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Oil advanced for a third day in New York, rising above $80 a barrel after an industry report showed crude stockpiles declined in the U.S., the largest energy consumer.

Marathon Oil Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. energy producer, may have some explaining to do to investors who say bad bets on refineries are holding back the company’s growing exploration business.

 (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co.’s Adam Opel GmbH division has cash reserves of about $2.5 billion, enough to last the unprofitable business “well into the first quarter,” according to Nick Reilly, the European unit’s acting chief.

A restructuring plan for Opel is likely to be agreed with workers and European governments in about three weeks, Reilly said yesterday at a London press briefing. Cuts needed to stem losses will amount to as many as 10,000 jobs and about 25 percent of output, or slightly less than the capacity of three plants, he said.  (go to article)

By: Reuters -- Oil rose towards $80 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by an industry report that showed crude stocks in the U.S. fell steeply last week, but limited by U.S. economic data that painted a picture of a slow recovery.

U.S. crude inventories fell a much sharper than expected 4.4 million barrels in the week to Nov. 13, according to weekly data from the American Petroleum Institute released on Tuesday, following storm-related disruptions to supplies in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Oil is getting a modest lift this morning after the API data showed a larger than expected drawdown in crude stocks," said Michelle Kwek, an analyst at Informa Global Markets in Singapore.

U.S. crude [US@CL.1 79.62 0.48 (+0.61%)]for December delivery rose 51 cents to $79.65 a barrel by 0158 GMT, adding to Tuesday  (go to article)

CNN Money -- NEW YORK -- When people think of Black Friday shopping, they usually think of things like flat screen TVs, toys and sweaters. Now you can add cars, trucks and SUVs.  (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- By Christian Schmollinger and Shani Raja

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil gained for a third day as an industry report showed U.S. stockpiles declined after a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Most Asian stocks fell as HSBC Holdings Plc’s chairman voiced concern about new capital rules.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Delta Air Lines Inc., American Airlines and United Airlines, the three largest U.S. carriers, are expanding the use of surcharges to raise prices on the busiest travel days next year.

Delta and United put fees of as much as $30 each way to flights on as many as 41 days from now to May 28, said Tom Parsons, chief executive officer of researcher Bestfares. All three airlines added $50 one-way charges on some flights on Feb. 8, the day after the National Football League’s Super Bowl.

The 2010 fees build on surcharges that will take effect on flights after the U.S. Thanksgiving and New Year’s holidays. Targeting seasonal flying, not just busy travel days related to events, is a new step for U.S. carriers trying to raise revenue amid the recession.  (go to article)

The Detroit Bureau -- The bank holding company remains in trouble over bad loans in the housing and auto markets

This leads to reasonable speculation that the situation of the company is more dire than previously represented, and that more than $5.6 billion is needed to clean up the mess.  (go to article)

cnet - www.cnet.com -- One year before starting production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors engineers say they are confident in the performance and safety of the electric car's batteries.

GM executives gave an update on the car's plans on Tuesday, saying engineers are making some tweaks to the design but that they are on schedule.

The Volt's chief engineer, Andrew Farah, also implied that GM is close to moving ahead with a project to make a Cadillac that uses the same gas-electric power train that the Volt uses. Last week, there were reports that the Converj concept had been given the green light internally, with expected car delivery in 2013.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- U.S. Senator Charles Grassley said the Environmental Protection Agency should allow some higher percentage of ethanol in gasoline if it delays a decision on the industry’s request to allow the ethanol blend to rise by half.

In March, Growth Energy, an ethanol industry trade group asked the EPA for a waiver to allow the ratio of ethanol in gasoline to rise to 15 percent from 10 percent. The agency must make a decision by Dec. 1. There’s speculation that the EPA may delay a ruling, citing the need for more testing, Grassley said.

“But I would also go back with a more specific request that if you can’t make a decision on E-15, at least make a decision on E-11 or E-12,” Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said today on a conference call with reporters.  (go to article)

Todays Trucking.com -- GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America recently had their diesel engines certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board to meet the near-zero emissions standards which take effect in January 2010.

The Mack MP7 and MP8 engines are now officially recognized to meet the strict new diesel emissions standards, while Volvo’s D11 and D13 engines have been certified. All the engines have been fully certified to meet EPA’s stringent standards without the use of emissions credits.
The truck and engine makers are the first truck manufacturers to have heavy-duty diesel engines certified for 2010 by both EPA and CARB.  (go to article)

New York Times - Wheels -- Bit by bit (or byte by byte), carmakers are connecting their vehicles not only to Internet-based services but also to owners’ smartphones. The latest is Mercedes-Benz, which announced a new telematics platform Monday that beefs up its navigation system with traffic and weather information and lets drivers lock or unlock their cars using an iPhone or BlackBerry.  (go to article)

Channel News Asia -- NEW YORK: Oil prices rose for a second consecutive day Tuesday amid forecasts of depleting fuel stockpiles in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery added 24 cents to US$79.14 a barrel.

London's Brent North Sea crude for January delivery gained 21 cents to US$78.97 a barrel.

"The market is showing a surprising strength," said independent oil analyst Ellis Eckland.

Eckland and many other analysts expect a drop in storage of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, when the US Energy Department releases weekly inventory levels on Wednesday.

Drops in inventory levels could also be exacerbated by Hurricane Ida, which weakened to a tropical storm earlier this month but led to closure  (go to article)

OregonLive.com -- The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Oregon rose slightly to $2.76, up half a penny from last week.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- How many of you travel with extra "stuff" in your car all the time? Perhaps some luggage, folders, files, paperwork, clothing, or other items have been in your car for months. To make your dollar go as far as possible, make sure to remove all items that aren't necessary in your car- clean the trunk, keep only necessary items.

All that "dead" weight can reduce your fuel economy 2-5% for each hundred pounds. Maybe there's a stroller or car seat that hasn't been used in months. It'd be a better idea only to haul it when necessary as well because if something were to happen to you, any loose objects may become projectiles and injury you or passengers.



In addition to that, make sure that when you do haul extra items ...  (go to article)