Posted on 07/25/2008 5:47:13 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Chihuahua -- While consumers just across the Rio Grande in El Paso are paying about $4 a gallon for gas -- more for diesel -- government subsidies here have kept fuel prices well below the $3 per gallon mark. Those low prices have kept El Pasoans hopping the border to stay ahead of sky-rocketing fuel prices at home in the United States, many of them filling up portable tanks with diesel which sell for between $300 and $1,000 in El Paso.
"Over the past three months with the price of diesel up where it is, we've seen an incredible increase in people buying them so they can buy diesel in Juarez," said Dick Krasne, president of Alamo Auto Supply on I-10 near Geronimo Drive in Central El Paso...
The cross-border commerce is raising the ire of some Mexican fuel consumers in Juarez; they don't like the idea of U.S. consumers taking advantage of fuel prices kept artificially low courtesy of their own tax dollars.
Dr. Tony Payan, political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, said it's more likely, though, that the spiking number of U.S. citizens buying fuel in Mexico are actually lining the pockets of oil giants in Houston and Dallas rather than the government-owned PEMEX oil company in Mexico City.
Because of a lack of refining capacity in Mexico, Payan said many oil fields in northwest Mexico export much of their crude oil to refiners in Texas, who in turn send refined gas and diesel back to Mexico for sale at stations along the border. Refining profits and jobs stay behind, though, north of the border in Texas...
While there are no firm number for the impact on the Texas economy, Payan estimated it in the billions.
"Texas benefits enormously from this," he said.
It is legal to bring gas and diesel back from Mexico. But if customs agents think you're bringing back too much to use yourself, they'll turn you back or send you to a cargo facility to cross it there.
"There have been mixed stories about how they're enforcing it, it's very unclear to us," Krasne said of customers who've bought the tanks to transport fuel across the border.
However, if gas and diesel prices start to climb again, customs agents will likely see more fuel-toting border crossers -- and that's clear on both sides of the border.
"The cross-border commerce is raising the ire of some Mexicans...in Juarez...don't like the idea of U.S. consumers taking advantage of fuel prices kept artificially low courtesy of their own tax dollars..."
Think of all the tax money that the US and border states are losing because of this!!!
If ever there were a reason to build a wall and build it now, this is it!!!
Personally I would do it on a daily basis, as much as I can afford, boaters have been doing this for awhile now. Granted PEMEX gas is crappy but the diesel is adequate for most engines.
have you been to el paso lately?
ick.
Turn about is fair play...LOL.
You say that like it's a bad thing. If our greedy over bloated government won't lower taxes on fuel then I say let em lose it!
Every American citizen has a duty to avoid paying any and all taxes. Like one previous poster said, “Starve the Beast.”
Good for anyone that lives close enough to get across the border and capitalize on anything from Mexico. If I lived a little closer, I’d go over and get 500 gallons!!!
I won't print what I'm thinking...
IRONY!!!!!
(maybe I need more coffee)
.....you can't make this stuff up....
I wonder how many of the Juarez-ites(Juarez-ians)? who are 'upset' have been illegal workers in the U.S.?
***The cross-border commerce is raising the ire of some Mexican fuel consumers in Juarez; they don’t like the idea of U.S. consumers taking advantage of fuel prices kept artificially low courtesy of their own tax dollars.***
But many of them will cross the border to have a bady in the US at taxpayer expense, and for instant citizenship for their little ones....
Nothing infuriates Mexico more than US citizens obtaining a benefit from their presence. We must immediately impose a border-jumper tax and fund border control measures to prevent such an obvious benefit from accruing to the stupid Gringos, errr, Americans.
“The cross-border commerce is raising the ire of some Mexican fuel consumers in Juarez; they don’t like the idea of U.S. consumers taking advantage of fuel prices kept artificially low courtesy of their own tax dollars.”
And now the Mexicans have an inkling - just an inkling - of how we have felt support an enormous part of their population for the last few decades!
Buying diesel in Mexico avoids the sulfur reductions (clean diesel) that California thrust upon the country. I think that a primary reason for the difference between the cost of diesel and unleaded gas is the reductions in sulfur imposed by California. There may be other factors such as increased world wide demand for diesel but I suspect that the sulfur emissions reduction (a factor of 10) has been the driving influence. As evidence, I understand that commercial grade diesel fuel can be purchased for much lower price in this country than the clean diesel sold as a retail fuel. I understand that it is illegal to use the commercial grade diesel fuel in a private vehicle. Buying gas in Juarez is a protest against the California clean diesel regulations.
Mexico can stuff it
Irony is a bitter pill. Can't help but laugh my friggin @$$ off at this one.
Or, how many are sending their kids to US schools, whose tuition is kept artificially low thanks to our tax dollars.
Or, how many come to US hospitals where...
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