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Traveling? Gas Drops, Even In Chicago

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 24, 2008 3:40PM

As the busiest travel day of the year - Wednesday - approaches, Chicagoans look like they're going to be blessed by two things: good weather and lower gas prices. While Chicago has had the highest average gas price in the nation the last few years, the nation's gas price drop has reached us. So low, in fact, that some stations have regular unleaded actually below the current national average of $1.98. The lower prices come as the price of a barrel of oil has dropped from $147 a barrel in July to under $50 a barrel currently, as close to a silver lining as you'll find in the current economic crisis. Though this paragraph from the AP story certainly got our attention: "Some 'peak oil' adherents view the theory as an incentive to work harder on alternative energy. Others claim it's too late for that, and forecast an apocalyptic future in which industrial society and the global marketplace give way to local micro-economies with backyard farms, abandoned malls and marauding hordes." Um...Happy Holidays, everyone!