Chicago finishes first in one survey.

Gas prices hit a record high over the past three weeks, with Chicago leading the way.

According to the Lundberg Survey released Sunday, the national average price for self-service regular rose just over one cent to nearly $3.03 a gallon — while the Chicago average was $3.29 a gallon, the highest average in the country.

But don’t blame the oil companies for singling out Chicago, says Dave Sykuta, of the Illinois Petroleum Council.

The real culprit is taxes.

While only nine states and the District of Columbia allow sales taxes on gasoline at all, “Illinois not only has a sales tax but it has the biggest one — 5 percent,” Sykuta said.

But AAA-Chicago Motor Club says Chicago is Number Three.

Aurora-based AAA-Chicago Motor Club uses a different methodology to calculate area gasoline prices and puts the average at $3.26 a gallon of regular unleaded. In its survey, Chicago is behind Hawaii and New York City.

Also from the same story:

State and local governments are the real winners when prices rise. Chicago’s charges amount to 9 percent of each purchase. If the purchase price goes up, so does the amount paid in taxes.

This year, the state of Illinois and local taxing bodies are ahead of last year’s gasoline tax revenue by $200 million to $300 million, Fleischi said.

Meanwhile, Topinka unvelied some energy plans at the State Fair.

“I want to make Illinois the clean energy capital of the nation,” said Topinka, a Republican from Riverside who is in her third term as treasurer.

Topinka claims the Blagojevich administration has lacked a commitment to agriculture.

She said Blagojevich has not been aggressive in backing an increase in the amount of ethanol produced in Illinois. And, she said, Blagojevich earlier attempted to raise taxes on certain agricultural products, such as seed and fertilizer.

If such a proposal were to reach her desk, she said, “I would veto it faster than you can say ‘Blagojevich.”‘

Blagojevich campaign spokeswoman Sheila Nix said many of Topinka’s ideas aren’t new and that the governor has been a strong supporter of clean energy and farming.

UPDATE: From the Blagojevich campaign’s Topinka Watch site:

As Illinois celebrated Agriculture Day at the Illinois state fair, Governor Blagojevich’s campaign called on Judy Baar Topinka to explain a consistent record of voting against Illinois agriculture interests and against assisting ethanol production in our state as a State Senator.

On four separate occasions when she served as a State Senator in 1991, Topinka voted against legislation that would have encouraged ethanol production and helped Illinois farmers working to produce alternative fuels.

Topinka voted against legislation that would have required motor fuels sold in Illinois to contain a specified percentage of ethanol, cut taxes for ethanol and prohibited motor vehicle warranties from misrepresenting the effect of the use of ethanol on cars.

Topinka’s opposition to legislation that would have encouraged the production of ethanol and helped Illinois farmers is a stark contrast to Governor Blagojevich’s leadership in this area. Today he announced a series of grants totaling $20 million from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to aid ethanol production by building five new ethanol plants.