Why Gas Prices Are So High in Farmington, and the Solution

Gas prices continue to rocket in Farmington to mad record levels. And don't look for price hikes to end anytime soon. AAA officials expect prices to continue upward as warmer weather arrives and demand increases, as it traditionally does each summer. For the whys and wherefores, we checked in with the aerodike guys who host "Four Corners Car Talk" a witty radio show on KENN Radio in Farmington. You're watching the Local News Network brought to you by Sunray Park and Casino and Traegers. I'm Deborah Uroda. Clifton Horace, owner of Horace Nissan in Farmington and his sales manager, Glenn Gent, have been advising local car owners for nearly two decades from a makeshift radio studio at their dealership on East Main Street. It's easy to assume the recent sanctions put upon Russia could be part of the reason we're paying so much at the pump or not, according to Horace.

If we quit buying 10% of our oil from Russia, we'll buy 10% from somebody else, and somebody will buy the 10% from Russia. So, the net supply, the reality is, it probably didn't change one iota. It's just who you're giving your money to. And we're all for let's produce it domestically. We know we can produce it cleaner than any other country in the world. We have more regulations and with these new methane gas rules, I mean, we'll have the cleanest production anywhere. Particularly when you look at fugitive emissions and some of the other things that go along with natural gas production. Which is what we are in San Juan

The anxiety in Europe, reverberates at the local gas stations in San Juan County.

I think a lot of it's fear based fear based reaction in the markets. Again, oils a commodity. And anytime you have fear in the market it changes things either up or down and then it's going up.

Before you turn in your gas guzzler for an electric vehicle better check the laws in your state. Electronic cars are sold only in states that mandate zero emission vehicles. New Mexico is not one of them neither is Colorado. There is an alternative.

We do sell hybrid electric vehicles. A hybrid electric vehicle is a internal combustion engine and an electric motor and a small battery, which we feel like is probably more suited for our area anyway because the distances that we travel.

Yeah.

And the lack of charging infrastructure.

Not only are hybrid electric cars a brilliant idea, they are also incredibly affordable.

And what would you pay to get a high hybrid?

2,800 bucks.

$2,800.

Yeah.

So now you've got the best of both worlds and we've got hybrids that are getting 50--

59.

59 miles a gallon

In a comfortable sedan.

And, we've got plug-in hybrids coming so you could drive the car for the first 40, 50 miles and burn no gas at all.

The last time San Juan County saw record high gas prices was in the summer of 2008. Today the average price that the pump was $4 and 50 cents. Where will it in?

Trust me, we've been watching the oil and gas business up here for--

Forever.

Yeah, 35 years and they'll fix it.

At a hundred dollars a barrel, they'll fix it.

"Four Corners Car Talk" airs every Saturday from 9:00 AM until noon at 1390 KENN. Thanks for watching this edition of Local News Network I'm Deborah Uroda.

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