Bipartisan group to probe high gas prices in California
Remember when gas only cost $6 a gallon? (File photo by Matthew Keys for Solano NewsNet)
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers will launch a fact-finding mission to probe the causes behind California’s high fuel prices.
On Monday, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon blamed “our addition to the gas-powered engine” for the financial crunch that is binding drivers in the Golden State.
“Yet that is no excuse for the actions of those who pin California drivers down with a foot on our necks and a hand in our pockets,” Rendon said at a press conference.
California motorists pay the highest average price per gallon for fuel anywhere in the country. The state’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel was $6.40 on Monday, the Associated Press reported, compared to the national average of just under $5.
Lawmakers are split on what is causing the high gas prices in California compared to the rest of the country. Some lawmakers say big oil companies are to blame, while others have criticized the governor for failing to temporarily suspend the state’s 51-cents-per-gallon gas tax. (The gas tax will increase to just over 53 cents per gallon early next month; suspending the gas tax in its entirety would still leave California with the highest average price of fuel in the country.)
Officials representing oil and energy companies say the situation will get worse before it gets better if California doesn’t pump the brakes on an environment-first policy that puts oil consumers at a disadvantage.
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the leader of the Western States Petroleum Association, a trade group representing energy workers, said lawmakers “should be urgently addressing these policy matters rather than holding press conferences calling for more investigations that time after time have found our industry is acting responsibly.”
Reheis-Boyd called the investigation “tone-deaf” and said proposed legislation that would ban gas-powered cars and trucks by 2026 was “unrealistic.”
“These policies are too fast, too soon and will be far too costly for Californians,” Reheis-Boyd said.
Energy analysts agree that high gas prices are likely to remain through the summer months and into the Labor Day holiday. Gas prices eased slightly over the Father’s Day holiday weekend, with travel experts citing lower demand as a primary reason for the decline.
In Solano County, some gas stations are still offering fuel for less than $6 a gallon. A Valero station in Suisun City and the Costco gas station in Fairfield were both filling up tanks for $5.89 a gallon as of Monday morning, according to the website GasBuddy.
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