Drivers brace for pumped up pump prices

Gas prices are pumping up and consumer advocates blame Monday’s refinery fire in Richmond. When it seems gas doesn’t ever get any cheaper, drivers we talked to say they now look at the growing prices with disdain and not a lot of surprise.

“They’re not going to take a loss, we have to take the hit for their loss always,” driver David Fairow said.

Drivers brace themselves for the hard hit that seems unavoidable.

“There’s nothing really I can change. My prices are set. I have customers that know my prices,” Fairow said of his business. “I have a mobile detail business, too. I use gas for my pressure washer, my generator, so it makes my cost of business go up, too.”

This Chevron refinery produces about 15 percent of the state’s gasoline supply. Drivers say gas prices creep up on you.

“I never take my bill and go ‘This is how much I spent’. But I know it’s a lot,” driver Cameron Chaney said.

They say while the numbers keep going up, drivers get caught in the quicksand.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. The best thing we can do is if everyone stops for a day and doesn’t do anything. No gas for a day and they might….” Fairow said.

Fairow trails off, hopeful for what “they might” do to help drivers someday.