Nebraska Has Highest Gas Prices In U.S.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska edged Michigan to take the dubious honor of having the most expensive gas in the nation, according to a nationwide AAA gas price survey released Sunday.

At $3.34, the average price for a gallon of gas in Nebraska was down a little less than a cent from Saturday, but Michigan was down more than a cent and slightly lower than Nebraska.


That puts Nebraska at 29 cents above the national average -- $3.05 -- and the pain at the pump has some people cringing.

"I don't fill it up," said Susan Heitmann of Omaha, who was pumping gas into her older pickup at a west Omaha gas station. "I just go up to a certain dollar amount."

The truck has two tanks, she said, so she's used to watching the numbers on the pump spin higher and higher.

"I don't care which one it is -- I pick the cheapest," Heitmann said.

Prices in Norfolk are were few cents lower Sunday -- averaging $3.32 -- but in North Platte, the average price was $3.40, according to AAA.

Wisconsin, Illinois and Hawaii join Nebraska and Michigan to round out the top five most expensive places to buy gas, all with prices between $3.28 and $3.34, according to AAA. The national average was down just one-hundredths of a cent from Saturday.

AAA gives South Carolina the cheapest gas ranking, at $2.83, followed by New Jersey, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, all between $2.83 and $2.89.

U.S. gas prices on average rose about six cents in the past three weeks, according to the national survey.

Regular gas prices averaged $3.06 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.17 and premium was $3.29, said oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg.

The lowest price was in Tucson, Ariz., where a gallon of regular cost $2.80. The highest was in Chicago at $3.46, according to the Lundberg Survey of thousands of stations nationwide.

Industry officials have said short supplies due to refinery problems are driving up prices in the Midwest.

"(There are) outages in South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas. Everyone's struggling," said Mike Rud, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketer's Association.

But the high prices didn't have Sue Gordon of Omaha sweating. She owns a Lexus hybrid SUV, and said she gets between 27 and 30 miles per gallon in the city.

"It seems like I fill up my tank every third week," Gordon said as she pumped gas at an Omaha station.