Breaking down the cost of Gas in California - highest in America

Breaking down the cost of Gas in California

Guess who relies the most on Russian oil in the US? Yep, California. Thanks to Sacramento policies significantly curtailing domestic drilling, CA’s reliance on oil imports has gone from 25.7% in 2000 to 56.2% in 2021. During that same period, our reliance on Alaskan oil went from 24.9% to 14.9%. Guess who filled those gaps. Yep, foreign oil.

In fact, nearly half of Russian oil shipped into the US last year ended up primarily in refineries in CA, WA, and Hawaii. CA refiners used ~11.3 million barrels of Russian crude oil last year. Now that Russian oil is banned, those refineries aren’t backfilling with domestic oil. They’re replacing that oil with supplies from South America, northwest Europe, and the Middle East.
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We are a highly industrialized economy heavily dependent on readily-available and relatively inexpensive energy.

As of October 2020, electric vehicles accounted for just 1.2% of the 27.7 million registered vehicles in the state. Which means that for the 98%+ that rely on gasoline or diesel, this past month has been brutal.
In fact, California brings the pain worse than any other state. Yesterday, the average price of a gallon of CA gas was $5.69. We are the ONLY – I emphasize ONLY – state in the entire country averaging over $5/gallon.
And we’re at $5.69!

Why so high? Taxes play a huge role. CA motorists pay 85.55 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes and fees. No other state is over 78 cents, while the national average is 57 cents. And they keep increasing with cost of living!

Also, CA’s environmental regulations require different gasoline formulas during spring and summer months, which increases the costs too.
Oh, and here’s a not-so-fun fact for you. Guess who relies the most on Russian oil in the US? Yep, California. Thanks to Sacramento policies significantly curtailing domestic drilling, CA’s reliance on oil imports has gone from 25.7% in 2000 to 56.2% in 2021. During that same period, our reliance on Alaskan oil went from 24.9% to 14.9%. Guess who filled those gaps. Yep, foreign oil.

In fact, nearly half of Russian oil shipped into the US last year ended up primarily in refineries in CA, WA, and Hawaii. CA refiners used ~11.3 million barrels of Russian crude oil last year. Now that Russian oil is banned, those refineries aren’t backfilling with domestic oil. They’re replacing that oil with supplies from South America, northwest Europe, and the Middle East.

Could CA produce more oil? Of course! The Western States Petroleum Association issued a statement reminding Gov. Newsom that there are more than 1,000 permits for new domestic production ready for approval.

But then he’d be disinvited to the cocktail parties thrown by his progression green allies who look down upon the common folk and say:
“Let them go electric.”
Resources:

· Spectrum 1 News “What It Will Take to Get to 100% EV Sales in California” https://spectrumnews1.com/.../what-it-will-take-to-sell...

· Sacramento Bee “Why are Californians paying more for gasoline than anyone else?” https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article259190893.html

· USA Today “Gas prices are high and up another 7 cents nationwide. Here is the average price in each state.” https://www.usatoday.com/.../gas-prices-state.../9447015002/

· LA Times “California’s high gas prices have a little-known ingredient: Russian oil” https://www.latimes.com/.../california-gas-prices...

· California Center For Jobs & The Economy “California Energy Price Data for February 2022” https://centerforjobs.org/.../california-energy-price...