Gas hits highest price in 12 months as progressives, celebrities pressure Biden to cancel more pipelines

The average price of gas in the United States has hit a 12-month high, according to new data Thursday from Gas Buddy.

The average retail gas price in the United States is now $2.50 per gallon after soaring from an average price of $1.74 per gallon in April 2020. In February of last year, Gas Buddy's chart shows gas prices were about $2.42 per gallon and proceeded to rise slightly before plummeting as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country.

Gas Buddy senior petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told FOX Business that a significant contribution to the increase is related to the recovery from COVID-19 as well as rising oil demand globally against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) decision to cut production.

"Unfortunately prices are likely to continue rising in the weeks and months ahead so long as we continue to see improvement in the pandemic," De Haan added, "They could rise another 15 to 35 cents a gallon by summer, [it's] all really contingent on what happens in the months ahead with COVID."

The new data comes as President Biden is facing pressure from progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to cancel the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project as well as a letter signed by dozens of celebrities to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline for good.