A Kentucky county illustrates how higher gas prices are hitting rural communities hard, from work to groceries - Entrepreneur Generations

Owsley County, Kentucky
(Wikipedia map)

High gas prices are hurting Americans of all stripes, but rural residents are having a particularly tough time.

In Owsley County, among the poorest in the country, "the surge in prices has rippled throughout the region, where people already have to drive far to commute to work or school, visit family and run their businesses," Corinne Boyer reports for Eastern Kentucky University's WEKU.

Regional fuel distributor Bob Riley, who trucks in and sells gas to Owsley County service stations, told Boyer the higher costs mean gas stations hit their credit limit sooner. That means they can't buy as much gas from him to sell to local residents. Riley hits his credit limit sooner too, restricting the amount of available gas even more.

Increased fuel prices drive up prices on goods, too, Riley said. "It also has a big effect on that hotdog you just brought at Kroger's and the produce, all your goods because everything's—at some point in the distribution chain—carried by a truck," Riley told Boyer.

High gas prices also make it harder on those who have to commute for college or work, a practice made even more common "as population and investment declines in rural parts of the country," Boyer reports. Some people have had to cut back on work hours because they can't afford to drive far away to work at a low-wage job.

Megan Warner, who works at the Owsley County Library, said many city-dwellers may not understand what it's like to live in a rural area where jobs don't pay well and housing is limited. "People tell you a lot, too, that you just need to get out there and work hard," Warner told Boyer. "It's hard to work hard when they basically just push you down with all these high prices that probably aren't going to get any lower anytime soon."

Dee Davis, president and founder of the Center for Rural Strategies, recommended specific ways policymakers could help rural communities if gas prices remain high: "Minimum wage can go up. It has been too low, too long. And we can make Earned Income Tax Credits permanent," he told Boyer.

The Biden administration has taken several recent actions in an effort to lower fuel prices. Two weeks ago, President Biden announced the release of one million barrels of oil per day from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Last week, he announced that E15 fuel, which contains more ethanol, will be available for sale this summer. And on Friday, the Interior Department announced plans to open up new public lands for drilling.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/UHVD1yu A Kentucky county illustrates how higher gas prices are hitting rural communities hard, from work to groceries - Entrepreneur Generations

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