BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – President Joe Biden has offered solutions to high gas prices, but some people are skeptical about his suggestions.
Last weekend, President Biden tweeted a message to the companies running gas stations: “Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product.” But gas station owners in North Dakota say, that’s not quite how it works.
The president’s tweet has some gas station owners scratching their heads.
“That’s virtually impossible because we buy our fuel from a wholesaler, who buys it from the refineries, and we have zero control over that price. We just buy it and then we put our margin on,” said Keith Boehm, co-owner of Flying J in Mandan.
And Keith said those margins thin out as the price of gas goes up.
“If you look at, everyone uses a card, right? That costs us, as a company, anywhere from 2 to 3%. When gas is at $2.00, that number is about six cents per gallon, when it’s at $5.00, it’s at fifteen cents, so we actually make less margin during these times,” said Boehm.
President Biden has also suggested a temporary pause on the federal gas tax, but ultimately, he says high prices are rooted in one thing.
“The reason why gas prices are up is because of Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia,” said President Biden.
But Keith has an alternative solution that he thinks would be more effective.
“Turn loose the producers of our petroleum industry, so that they can produce what they want to,” said Boehm.
Keith feels producers in North Dakota are being hamstrung by the Administration’s energy policies.
The good news? Gas prices in North Dakota are down about 15 cents from an all-time high last month. The bad news? They’re still more than $1.50 higher than they were this time last year.
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