One of the lead news stories lately has been the sharp price decline in the price of gasoline. This past week, off-Island, I purchased gas at $3.03 per gallon. Islanders have usually accepted a price difference in the cost of gas on the Vineyard because of the cost of transportation from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. With today’s internet it is easy to follow the price of gas by using Ma.Gasprice.com. As of Oct. 26, the price per gallon of regular gas in Falmouth was $3.19 a gallon. In Vineyard Haven the price for the same gallon of gas was $4.09, 90 cents, or 28 per cent higher. Mathematically this would mean that the Steamship Authority charges the trucker $9,000 to transport a 10,000-gallon tanker for a seven-mile voyage from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. In Vineyard Haven, during this past weekend, at the same location where the price for a gallon of gas was $4.09, a gallon of milk cost $2.99. A reasonable person would think that it would be more economical to transport 10,000 gallons of gasoline in a tanker than it would be to transport milk in a gallon container. A gallon is a gallon.

Although the price differential for gasoline on the Vineyard has supposedly been reviewed by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office previously, it seems incumbent upon our elected officials, whether they be town, county, state or federal to explain to their constituencies what exactly are the causes of this price inequality. It is time for Vineyard voices to be heard in opposition to this continuing economic injustice.

Jack Rollins
Vineyard Haven