SALT LAKE CITY — Pain at the pump hit a new level this week as Utahns had to dish out more than four dollars a gallon for gas and Gov. Spencer Cox weighed in on the situation.
"I'm very worried about rising gas prices," he said during his monthly news conference. "Sadly, there's not much that we can do about that in state government."
Cox reported that refineries are running at their full potential in Utah and it still isn't enough.
"It is not enough for the entire state of Utah," he explained, "Which means that we need to bring gasoline in from other places and that adds to the expense."
In just a few days, the average price of gas in Utah jumped by over ten cents, and when compared to last month, prices have increased by about 40 cents.
Utah isn't alone in dealing with high gas prices as much of the western United States is dealing with the issue as well.
In Arizona, gas prices sat at $4.65 per gallon Thursday and Nevada is not far behind with the average at $4.22 per gallon, AAA reports.
The national average for a gallon of gas as of Thursday was $3.53 per gallon.
FOX 13 News previously spoke to AAA about why gas prices may be so high and when they're expected to come back down. The representative said two refineries in Arizona were down for maintenance and some Utah gas may have been diverted to help with demand in the area.
AAA said they didn't see any hope on the horizon for gas prices, especially with the kickoff to summer, Memorial Day Weekend, right around the corner.
Cox said he hopes in the next several years, more refineries can be added in Utah, thus increasing supply within the state.
"Because of the current federal administration's position on oil and gas development and things like refineries, the market is very hesitant to put a lot of money into new refineries that might not be successful for 20 or 30 years," he said. "So getting those mixed signals from an administration that is not supportive of oil and gas development in our country makes it a little harder to get people to invest in major infrastructure processes like that."
