Gas Prices: The Last Time We Rank Monroe Against the State

Regular in East Stroudsburg averages $4.37, down about 4 cents from a week ago and up $1.25 from a year ago, according to AAA. That is about 10 cents below the Pennsylvania average of $4.47, and this is the last time we will compare Monroe County to the rest of the state. Here is why.

Here is the truth about that gap: when you are paying $1.25 more a gallon than you were a year ago, when regular here averaged $3.13, nobody cares that it is ten cents below the rest of the state. Nobody has ever driven away from the pump feeling richer because of a statewide average.

So why is it almost always lower? Not because local stations are feeling generous. The reasons are structural, and mostly plumbing and geography. Pittsburgh has no refinery and gets its gas from Ohio, as AAA East Central's Jim Garrity has put it, so it pays for the trip. The east gets Gulf Coast fuel by pipeline, through Paulsboro, N.J., to terminals in Macungie and Malvern that can feed places like Scranton and Harrisburg. Taxes do not explain it either. Pennsylvania charges a flat 57.6 cents a gallon, whether you fill up in Stroudsburg or Erie.

So ranking us against a map is not news. Prices moving is. From here on, we will tell you how today compares with last week, last month and last year. It will not make the fill-up cheaper, but it will at least be honest about the pain.