WEST VIRGINIA (WOAY) – As gas prices currently sit at $4.87 or more around the state, and many West Virginia lawmakers refuse to provide any relief, Senator Shelley Moore Capito held a virtual press conference Thursday to discuss the ongoing problem.

While Capito is not in favor of a possible gas tax holiday as she feels it’s only a short-term solution, she does however feel there is more the administration could be doing to help the matter.

“I would implore the administration to start moving towards policies where we are creating our own energy independence,” Capito says. “One of the things that I hear a lot about that I think has great promise is some kind of technology where you can replace oil-based diesel.”

Whether replacing the oil-based diesel with hydrogen or some kind of renewable natural gas, Capito feels there are other refining options that need to start being considered. In West Virginia alone, she said there are vast natural gas reserves to utilize.

She said that more investment in other solutions to the matter is a crucial step at this time but that the administration is not seeing it that way.

“I just think that people have lost faith in the fact that Washington doesn’t see the everyday problems of putting another $50 or $100 in your gas tank every couple of days or once a week,” she says. “We have an administration that’s chilling investment on anything that has to do with fossil fuels.”

Capito feels the frustration of the gas price struggle and encourages people to keep urging lawmakers to find a solution.