The one-year anniversary of the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom is in three days and gasoline prices in Iowa are averaging exactly the same price as they were a year ago. Triple-A-Iowa spokeswoman Dawn Duffy says a gallon of self-service unleaded now costs a dollar-72 in Iowa, the same as in mid-March last year. Duffy says the price is the same but the world situation is much different. Duffy says prices are up this year due to cutbacks in OPEC’s oil production, tight domestic inventories of crude oil, rising gas demand with Spring Break just around the corner, and the annual switch to cleaner burning fuels — all are pushing prices higher. Duffy says gas prices were rocketing a year ago as tensions with the pending war in Iraq heightened. She says gas prices went down as soon as the fighting started, but she doesn’t expect prices to go down this year.While the current statewide average of a dollar-72 a gallon is unchanged from a year ago, Duffy says that figure is up from the statewide average of a dollar-64 last month.
