While some consumers are blaming the government for higher gas prices, they need only look in the mirror for the solution. A number of factors — shrinking refining capacity, natural disasters — are fueling prices at the pump, but consumer demand drives gas prices.

To ease the burden on our nation's refineries, consumers need to curb their craving for oil. This can be accomplished in a number of ways — eliminating unnecessary trips, carpooling or riding the bus to work, purchasing more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in Kansas, where the average price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.26 on Thursday, 9 cents above the national average.

The price of crude oil is high, partly because of a supply problem the country is facing, says Thomas Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association of Kansas. The country is operating at a refining capacity of 89 percent and hasn't really built any new refineries since the mid 1970s. Demand is increasing, but the supply is actually decreasing, Palace said.

Some noise has been made in Washington about suspending the federal gas tax when the price reaches a threshold, to ease the pain at the pump. But that isn't the answer. The burden of lowering gas prices falls directly on consumers.

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