Gas prices hit record average high nationwide, above $4 in all 50 states for the first time. California has the highest gas prices at more than $6 a gallon.

By Paul Best 

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Gas prices continued hitting record highs this week, as the average gallon of gas now costs at least $4 in all 50 states for the first time ever, according to the auto club AAA. 

Just three states – Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma – hadn't crossed $4 a gallon on Monday, but they all saw jumps on Tuesday to hit that threshold. 

Kansas still has the cheapest gas in the nation at $4.006 a gallon, while California has the priciest at $6.021 a gallon. 

Gas prices are advertised at over six dollars a gallon Monday, March 7, 2022, in Los Angeles.  ((AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) / AP Newsroom)

Even oil-rich Texas, which is usually home to low gas prices due to the state's low taxes and proximity to refineries, had an average price of $4.214 a gallon on Tuesday, just slightly below the national average of $4.523 a gallon. 

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"The high cost of oil, the key ingredient in gasoline, is driving these high pump prices for consumers," AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said this week. "Even the annual seasonal demand dip for gasoline during the lull between spring break and Memorial Day, which would normally help lower prices, is having no effect this year."

West Texas Intermediate Crude, the U.S. benchmark, sat at $113.90 a barrel on Tuesday, slightly down from the high this year of $129.44 on March 7. 

FILE - A flare burns natural gas at an oil well on Aug. 26, 2021, in Watford City, N.D.  (Associated Press)

The Biden administration has blamed the gas price surge on Russia's war in Ukraine and taken steps to increase domestic supply, including by releasing one million barrels of oil per day from the strategic reserve for the next six months and allowing the sale of gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend. 

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Biden's Department of the Interior, however, canceled an oil and gas lease sale for over 1 million acres in Alaska last week, citing a "lack of industry interest." 

After the cancellation, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said the Biden administration has "proved their lack of commitment to oil and gas development in the US." Biden and his allies have promoted what some characterize as anti-fossil fuel policies since the executive orders he imposed during his first hours in the presidency.