To the editor:

In response to The Associated Press story on the front page of the May 16 Journal-World about soaring gas prices: I have a huge problem with all the supposed experts on why fuel prices are so high.

1. They had to shut down a refinery for repairs.

This is figured into their annual budget as, you should be aware, all plants of this size do what they call a plant outage once a year for repairs. Why the increase in price at the pump? Do they get twice the profits? Westar has a plant outage yearly for repairs. Do they reap the huge profits like the oil industry? What happens if they catch on to what big oil is doing?

2. We hear all the time to cut back.

What about all the road construction? It seems like every day there is more new construction that is holding up commuters in traffic jams, and if you find an alternate route, it takes just as much fuel if not more than if you were sitting in traffic. Ramps are closing for one reason or another, causing commuters to go out of their way and use extra fuel. All of this has to be taken into account. Just figure out how much extra fuel is used sitting in traffic as opposed to doing the speed limit. There are a lot more traffic jams now than ever before, and the biggest reason is construction. I see it every day as I am a truck driver.

So where does the fault really lie?

Brian McAvoy,

De Soto