Remember When We Worried About Gas Prices?

I bought my first tank of gas Wednesday since the Upstate price fell under two dollars a gallon. It felt nice spending less than $29. It's great to know we've achieved energy independence.

We did rid ourselves of foreign oil dependence, didn't we?

That was the issue in the recent campaign that seemed to disappear from view with the financial crisis rising to the top of the heap of concerns. That may be the only benefit of the credit crisis; it's part of the reason the cost of gas is dropping.

Oil prices slid to near $55 a barrel in Asia Thursday morning and most energy experts expect this will continue. (Of course, where can we find those "experts" and what can we do to them if they're wrong about the forecast?)

The Energy Information Administration released the following numbers and forecasts on Wednesday:

- The monthly average price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil fell from over $133 per barrel in July to about $77 per barrel in October, indicative of the abrupt decline in world petroleum demand growth. The annual average WTI price is now projected to be $101.45 per barrel in 2008 and $63.50 in 2009.

- The average U.S. prices for regular-grade gasoline and diesel fuel, at $2.22 and $2.94 per gallon respectively on November 10, were both more than $1.80 per gallon below their highs in mid-July. With a weak economy continuing through most of 2009, along with lower projected crude oil prices, the annual average retail gasoline and diesel prices in 2009 are projected to be $2.37 and $2.73 per gallon, respectively.

This is comparing separate surveys, but if I'm paying an average of $1.98 in the Upstate now (thanks, AAA Fuel Gauge) and the average U.S. Price is $2.22 (thanks, EIA) then their forecast says we should pay an annual average of around $2.13 in the Upstate next year.

And fans of more domestic oil drilling off the U.S. Mainland will be happy to hear that the first steps have been taken by the Minerals Management Service to lease acreage off the Virginia coast.

Now, you may be against drilling off the U.S. mainland for more oil and favor alternative fuel sources, but I worry we're forgetting just how bad things were last summer at the pump.

Look at these numbers put together earlier this year by Edmunds.com:

- In July, 1991 the average price of gas was $1.09. The percent of the median yearly household income spent on fuel was 4.9%. The percentage stayed under five percent in analysis of prices in 1995, 1999 and 2003.

- In July, 2007 the average price of gas was $2.96. The percent of the median yearly household income spent on fuel was 8.4%.

- This past July, the average price of gas was up to $4.06. The percent of income spent on fuel was up to 11.5%.

The money we were spending for fuel last July - from our household income - doubled in five years. We didn’t do anything to drive those numbers up and we haven’t done much to bring them back down again, with one exception.

We are driving less as a nation. We drove 15 billion fewer miles in August 2008 compared to August 2007, according to the Department of Transportation.

But oil prices – and the pain at the pump – shot up last February for what appeared to be no reason. Here’s hoping our new administration doesn’t forget what happened while they were campaigning last summer as a gallon of gas burned a deep hole in our bank accounts.

In the meantime, I'll just keep my eyes on those three digits on the sign at the gas station in my neighborhood.