COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – You no doubt noticed a big jump in gas prices around Branch County on Monday and that has left motorist asking why.
According to Gas Buddy it’s due to the largest inland refinery in the Midwest going down due to recent storms and flooding. That refinery is located in Whiting, IN.
The outage came after days of heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the area leaving drivers in not only Michigan but also Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin with higher pump prices. In some cases a rise as much as a 50 cent per gallon. In a matter of hours prices jumped in Coldwater from $3.24 per gallon to $3.49.
That data came from the American Automobile Association, which showed also that nationally, gas prices barely budged, rising just 2 cents per gallon nationwide, showing how isolated and regional the damage really is.
BP who owns the facility, managed to bring back one of its two primary processing units back online Monday. But the partial restart did little to ease any pressure. They say there was simply not enough slack in the system.
With Labor Day weekend just days away , and travel demand expected to spike, we are likely stuck with high costs until at least mid-September.
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