AAA reported this week that the average price for diesel fuel in the State of Maine reached an all-time high of $6.24 per gallon. Maine’s prices at the pumps are significantly above the national average.

Skyrocketing fuel and diesel are directly linked to the struggle Maine families are encountering at the grocery store. According to the U.S. Commerce Department Mainers spend the third highest amount on food in the United States. Fuel costs are also significantly impacting the survivability of Maine’s local restaurants under escalating food costs.

The drive to limit the supply of fuel in the United States is a coordinated effort at the both the state and national level. For example, Governor Janet Mills signed LD 99 into law, directing the Maine Public Employees Retirement System to divest from all fossil fuel investments within five years. The new law also applied to Maine’s State Cash Pool.

Nationally, the Biden Administration led the charge to choke off investments in oil and gas production in the United States and internationally as well. As Former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry observed, the Biden Administration’s restrictive actions on energy include “no to pipelines, no to drilling, and no to the financing of oil and gas projects overseas.”

Sally Doak, Executive Director of the Maine Grocers and Food Producers Association recently addressed why Maine’s food costs are the third highest in the nation. Said Doak, “probably 80% of the food sold in Maine comes from outside the State of Maine. There are some distribution centers in Maine, but the food has to get to Maine.” She relayed that “warehouses in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont do a significant amount of food delivery to independent grocery stores.”

The consequences of state and national efforts to choke off the supply of gasoline and diesel is having a disastrous effect on Maine’s economy and is directly impacting the ability for Mainers to feed our families.