Rhode Island residents have spent a total of $36.6 million more at the gas pump since the start of U.S.-Israeli war in Iran at the end of February, according to researchers at Brown University tracking the impact of rising oil prices.
The Iran War Energy Cost Tracker, an online tool created by the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, compares gasoline and diesel prices nationwide to a pre-war baseline. It is continuously updated using data from AAA, along with figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau to estimate fuel costs.
The tracker created by senior John Perdue estimates a growing consumer burden of $29 billion across the nation since the war began on Feb. 28 — over $5 billion more than the total budget of NASA for the federal fiscal year 2026, noted Jeff Colgan, a political science professor who heads the Climate Solutions Lab.
“We could be doing great things with this money as a country that we’re not,” Colgan said in an interview. “We’re instead spending it on extra fuel costs imposed by a war.”
As of Thursday, Americans were paying $4.30 on average nationwide for a gallon of regular gas, according to the tracker. The average for diesel across the country was $5.50 per gallon.
The online tracker includes costs by state, along with how much residents are paying on average at the pump.
In Rhode Island, the average gallon of gas was $4.18 — a $1.29 increase from before the war. Rhode Island households have spent an average of $83.78 more on gas since the war, according to the dashboard.
“It’s a lot for Rhode Island households,” Colgan said.
Rhode Island’s price bump is still cheaper compared to some of its New England peers.
The dashboard shows drivers in Connecticut pay an average of $4.33 a gallon. In Maine, motorists pay around $4.24 per gallon — same with Vermont.
Drivers pay a little less in Massachusetts at around $4.16 a gallon. New Hampshire had the cheapest gas in the region at $4.15 per gallon.
California has the highest average price at the pump at $6.01 per gallon. Oklahoma was the cheapest at $3.71 per gallon.
While gasoline is the fuel Americans use the most, Colgan said diesel was included in the tracker because of its broader economic impact.
“Anything we buy has been shipped on trucks or locomotives that run on diesel,” he said.
Nationally, the war in Iran increased the cost of diesel by $13.9 billion. In Rhode Island, drivers have paid an extra $44.7 million for diesel. The state’s average diesel cost is $5.69 per gallon.
As costs continue to rise, Gov. Dan McKee has seized the moment to promote his budget request to roll back the state’s 2-cent gas tax increase that took effect last July in order to fill a multimillion dollar deficit for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA).
McKee’s proposal to the General Assembly would reduce the rate from 40 cents per gallon to 38 cents following the payoff of motor fuel bonds. RIPTA would continue to receive the 2-cent bump under the governor’s tax and spend plan.
The governor’s office projects the rollback would save Rhode Islanders an estimated $9 million per year. But Colgan argues the savings would be negligible.
“We should be thinking about more long-term sustainable changes that take our energy system to a better path,” he said. “It should rely on sunshine and wind, where the prices are free and not subject to the politics of the Middle East.”
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
