Gavin Newsom’s green agenda and global oil turmoil will risk sending California’s gas prices above a wallet-crushing $8 a gallon — potentially returning drivers to the desperate fuel rationing not seen since the 1970s, state lawmakers and industry experts warned.
With drivers in the Golden State already facing the highest gas prices in the US, Southern California state Sen. Suzette Valladares has urged the governor to scrap California’s cap-and-invest program that charges oil makers for carbon emissions. She dubbed Newsom’s program the “cap-and-tax” scheme, and warned that closing any further oil refineries in the state couldtrigger economic collapse.
“It’s not scaremongering at all,” Valladares told The California Post of a report from the USC Marshall School of Business that found gas prices could reach $8 a gallon by the end of 2026.
“Because of cap and invest, we’re looking at $1 more a gallon for gas. We areone refinery awayfrom losing another 10% of California’s supply. When you have less supply, the gas price goes up,” she explained, adding that a gallon of could go for well above $8.
Valladares’ Southern California colleague, Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland, has proposed a bill that he believes would lower prices by over $1 dollar a gallon by eliminating state taxes, cap-and-trade investments and the state’s low-carbon fuel standard.
He called on Newsom to convene a special session to address gas prices.
Californians pay an average of $4.81 per gallonfor gas, compared to the national average of around $3.
That “California premium” includes roughly $0.28 in higher state excise tax costs, $0.13 in higher sales tax and local fees, and $0.75 for climate programs that are unique to the Golden State.
California also requires aspecial and more costly fuel blend—designed to prevent smog—that only the state’s refineries and specific Asian countries can produce.
It adds an extra $0.15 per gallon cost for California drivers compared to the average US driver.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
