Average gasoline price falls below $2, cheapest since 2005

Enlarge By Kiichiro Sato, AP The price of one gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at a BP gas station in Hebron, OhioThursday.

Staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON — The national average price for a gallon of gasoline has fallen below $2 for the first time since March 2005, the Energy Department and AAA say.

The price for regular unleaded gasoline fell for the ninth week in a row, sinking to $1.989 a gallon overnight Friday, AAA says.

Thirty states have gasoline prices that average under $2 a gallon, according to the AAA travel club.

Falling gasoline prices are putting extra money in the pockets of consumers, but there is concern some drivers may return to their gas-guzzling vehicles.

The chairman of the Senate Energy Committee said Monday the new Congress probably will not approve legislation to raise the federal tax on gasoline.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman said he was aware of arguments that a high "variable tax" should be put on U.S. gasoline to prevent falling pump prices from encouraging Americans to drive more while making alternative fuels less attractive.

Such a tax hike "would be very tough to pass," Bingaman said. "I don't think something like that has much prospect of being enacted in my honest opinion."

Americans pay an 18.4-cent federal tax on each gallon of gasoline they buy, plus another 29 cents on average in combined state and local taxes.

Contributing: Reuters

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