05/08/06 High fuel prices, get used to it

Farmers and ranchers know it. The price of fuel has gone through the ceiling. Also affected by high oil prices are fertilizer costs. Anything linked to the petroleum industry is seeing high costs today thanks to the price of crude oil. The experts who watch the trends say increasing world wide demand, a lack of refinery capacity in the US and tension in the Middle East are some of the factors driving the price. BODMAN "The market really does represent on balance a supply and demand problem." US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says the price of crude oil which topped 70-dollars a barrel this spring is likely to remain high through next year. BODMAN "If I were a betting man I would be assuming that we would have prices that may be significantly below where they are today but still above 40 let's say or something like that." Motorists are seeking three dollar fuel everywhere. Bodman says consumers are the ones who will now control the price of gas based on their demand and use. He was asked we he and his counterparts at a recent world energy conference thought of the price at the gas pump. BODMAN "Most of the people there who are responsible leaders will tell you that the price of gasoline and the price of oil is too high and it's materially too high." A farmer with a ten thousand gallon fuel tank knows that all too well. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott