Free Republic

On Sunday, the Empire State became the sixth state to top $4 for the average price of a gallon of gas, joining Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii and Illinois, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge. The average price of gas also rose to more than $4 per gallon in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

CENTRAL OHIO - As gasoline prices continue to climb, the oil industry said this week that by 2012, we could be paying not $4 per gallon, but $5. "It scares me," said Sharri Carroll, who was filling up her car in Hilliard Wednesday. "How are you going to afford to fill up your tank every week to get to work?" NBC4 took the concerns Wednesday to John Felmy, a Ph.D. a top official with the American Petroleum Institute. Felmy is one of the country's leading experts on gasoline prices who just happened to be in Columbus Wednesday

Weekly gas prices skyrocketed, according to the Department of Energy, driven by the popular revolts spreading across the Middle East. The U.S. weekly average price per gallon is $3.19, up 54 cents from a year ago, and slightly higher than last week's $3.14. This was the highest price posted during the month of February since 1990, when the data became available. The most expensive regions again are New England at $3.23 and California at $3.56. Oil settled at $93.57 in New York trading, up 8.5 percent since Friday's close, the biggest one day jump in nearly three years years.

Shell Oil announced Thursday that it's abandoning efforts to drill in icy waters off Alaska’s northern coast this year, a decision that prompted Alaska's senators to accuse the Obama administration of blocking access to large domestic supplies. The company’s plans to drill in Arctic waters have long been under attack from environmental groups. The Interior Department, after the BP oil spill, halted the oil giant’s plan to drill in 2010. Now the company – which is awaiting air quality permits and Interior’s permission – is throwing in the towel on 2011 too. The Houston Chronicle reports: