Many U.S. drivers, stung by record gasoline prices, say they’d pay even more if it would end Russia’s war in Ukraine. That doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.
Monday morning’s commute brought the shock of $80 fill-ups in California and New York, as the threat of sanctions and curbs on Russian oil pushed gasoline prices to levels not seen since the turn of the century. Average pump prices in the U.S. are now $4.173 per gallon, the most expensive since 2000, according to auto club AAA.
And yet, some drivers say sanctions — and the even-higher prices they’d bring — might be necessary to stop the war. And as much as they hate paying more, it pales compared to the genuine hardships others face. A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found 71% of Americans would support banning Russian oil, even if it pushes prices higher.
In San Francisco, Chase Kanarek said on Monday sanctions could be a “necessary evil.” A line of waiting cars snaked down Divisadero Street from the station where he stopped for $4.90 gas, some of the city’s cheapest. Kanarek, a golf pro, said he wanted the U.S. to pump more of its own oil until the country can switch to more sustainable forms of energy.
“If the sanctions actually do something to hamper Russia’s ability to move through Ukraine, then it’s an appropriate decision to make, even if Americans are suffering in the short term,” Kanarek said. “A lot of that burden could be lessened if we started drilling for our own oil and opened the reserves.”
California now averages $5.34 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA. The state often has the nation’s most expensive gasoline, the result of high taxes, costs from global-warming programs and the state’s use of pollution-fighting fuel blends used nowhere else. Still, prices there have jumped 51 cents in just one week as the threat of sanctions grows.
A list of changing prices at the Exxon on Route 1 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on March 7. Photographer: Elise Young/Bloomberg
In New York City’s Brighton Beach neighborhood, Ken Mkrtchyn paid $79 to fill his 2019 Audi on Monday,
“Gas prices are the least of our problems,” said Mkrtchyn. “I would pay more for gas as long as they stop this frickin’ war.”
Mkrtchyn said he served in the Red Army as a teenager in Armenia before coming to the U.S. in 1989. That didn’t make him sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military campaign in Ukraine. “Putin is a rat,” he said. “And what do rats do when they’re stuck in a corner? They attack.”
The spike in gasoline prices comes as many Americans are emerging from two years of working from home and forgoing extensive vacations as the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life. While many people can cut back on the number of miles they drive, they can’t avoid it altogether.