Monday afternoon, 68-year-old William Nance pumped $10 worth of gas into his pickup. At $3.96 a gallon, $10 in mid-grade fuel doesn”t go as far as it used to.
Nance was among a flurry of gas patrons at Tina Watkins Sprint Mart on Highway 45, Monday, very few of them filling up.
“People used to get extra gas to ride around. Now they just get enough gas to get to work and back,” said Bobby Watkins, owner of the store.
First District U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, took time out on Monday to talk with customers at the pump and ask them how the rising cost of fuel is impacting their lives.
“I wish they”d do something to help us get it down,” said Nance, who works at Columbus Marble Works. “It”s ridiculous.”
It takes about $90 for Nance to fill up his pickup.
For Josh Hollis, 22, it takes about $100 to fill up his Chevrolet Silverado with regular fuel, which was $3.84 at Tina Watkins on Monday.
“It kills me,” said Hollis, who works for FedEx. “I”m probably gonna have to sell the truck, gas is so high.”
“It”s affecting everybody”s budget. Everybody”s cutting back on going out to eat just to have money to put gas in,” Watkins said.
The rising costs are also affecting his store sales.
“I just make a few cents a gallon of gas,” he said, noting he makes from 3 to 5 cents on each gallon of gas; his profits come from selling drinks, snacks and hot food in the store.
“People aren”t coming in and buying chips and drinks like they used to (because of gas prices). We have pizza and chicken, and we run more specials to try to entice them to eat with us. We actually make less on it, but we try to get the volume to offset the gas,” Watkins said. “It”s sure not the store owner that makes the money off of gas. It”s just Wall Street that makes the money.”
“We see a lot of the national news about the rising cost of gas, but I want to hear from real Mississippians, and I want to hear their personal stories,” Nunnelee said.
He was asking patrons two questions: How is it impacting their lives, and, what do they want him to do about it?
Last week, Congress passed legislation geared toward increasing oil production in the U.S., he noted. Increasing oil production and refining capacity in the U.S. is key to the country”s energy security, he said.
“I do think that there are going to be some alternate energy sources, and Kior is a great energy alternative,” Nunnelee added, saying that “energy security should be the space of our generation.”
Kior hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Columbus-Lowndes County Port on Thursday. The plant, the company”s first commercial facility, is a more than $100 million investment. The plant will make crude oil from wood chips and other types of biomass.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Bobby Watkins Photo by: Kelly Tippett
