Chattanooga Gas Prices Hit Record High

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Gas prices in Chattanooga have reached unprecedented highs.

“In Chattanooga, you are seeing the most expensive gas prices that you have seen on record,” said Megan Cooper, a AAA representative.

Yesterday, President Biden banned oil imports from Russia.

US Representative Chuck Fleischmann is in favor of this decision.

“We have needed to be sterner. we have needed to be stronger. But I think Biden, fortunately, again, is listening to members of congress like myself,” he said.

To combat rising prices, Fleischmann suggests increasing supply by relying on the US’s domestic oil reserves.

“We have oil reserves that dwarf the size of the Saudi Oil fields. It’s that much,” he added.

The United States does have a large amount of domestically produced oil, but according to Zach Strickland, an analyst at Freightwaves, developing the infrastructure to rely solely on that oil will take time.

“That takes a long time. I mean, the problem is going to be… it’s not necessarily that we need to increase our reliance on our internal supply; it’s the world has a total supply of oil,” he said.

As for reducing the price of gasoline, Strickland said it will come down to how quickly the war in Ukraine ends.

“Changing infrastructure takes years, so there’s nothing we can do in the short term other than releasing some backlogged reserves that’s going to help kind of mitigate it. Really, we just need this situation to resolve itself quicker,” he continued.

The average price of gas in Chattanooga is currently $4.01.