| Gasoline prices are rising rapidly again.
Regional prices are near $3 a gallon, with some Calhoun pump prices reaching $3.09 today.
The average price per gallon of regular unleaded was $2.95 throughout West Virginia and Ohio on Monday, according to Bevi Powell, communications director with AAA East Central District in Pittsburgh.
"Oil prices are up significantly and there is no way to tell when or where it will stop," Powell said.
The main cause given for the current rise in gas prices is the weak United States dollar and economic conditions worldwide - or simply, it's the market.
It has nothing to do with shortages.
"Demand isn't the issue this time, as it has been so many times in the past," Powell said, demand being the primary driver in a free market system.
Crude prices reached a two-year high at $87.49 a barrel during early trading Monday.
If the average rises above $3, it will be the first time since November 2008 that consumers will have paid that much for gasoline.
Highest recorded average price was $4.05 a gallon in July 2008, but parts of the country was selling gasoline even higher.
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