California Gas Prices...?

Question

why is it so high?

and how can we control it?

views/input?

Answer 1

Drive less.  That's the only way.

Answer 2

Everything's expensive here in CA, gas stations are just taking advantage of us.  

How to control it:  Need it less.  Drive less.  Less unnecessary trips/errands.  More economical vehicles.  Less 8-cyl SUVs.  Price will follow a drop in demand.  Organize boycott days.

Answer 3

It's the law of stupidity and demand, not the law of supply and demand. People buy vehicles that get ten miles per gallon, then they whine about fuel prices. They also find jobs 60 miles from home, then they whine because they have to buy fuel three times a week. Then they buy three jet skis and a pair of dirt bikes and complain that the high cost of fuel is putting a dent in their recreation budget. We can't control the price of fuel until we learn to control ourselves. That's a tough sell in the most prosperous country on the planet where the only rule is "more, more, more, bigger, bigger, bigger". And since the price of fuel has trended upward from the first gallon ever sold, and since every day oil gets harder to obtain, it is highly unlikely that the price of any petroleum-based fuel will ever go down. And since human intelligence is not improving, the law of stupidity and demand will only be enforced more strictly.

Answer 4

California gasoline prices range above the rest of the nation for three primary reasons:

1 - California has it's own Clean Air standards that go above and beyond the federal Clean Air Act.  Formulating this gasoline is expensive and time consuming.  The additional time and money adds value to the finished product, which is passed on to the consumer.

2 - Additionally, California has many local governments which have their own stipulations for fuel.  This results in many "flavors" or recipes of gasoline.  The smaller batches produced at the refinery don't have the same efficiency of size that multi-million barrel batches have and this adds cost to each small batch.  Resetting fractions, injecting additional products, retooling time all add to the cost.  which is, you guessed it, passed on to the consumer.

I work for one of the largest energy companies in the world, managing fuel inventories across the US.  You can bet we've worked tirelessly to create common ground on these issues.  Every "flavor" we can drop saves money and time.

3 - Increased cost of living on the West Coast also affects prices.  A dealer who has to pay property taxes on a station whose valuation is 5 million dollars obviously has higher costs than a midwest dealer whose station is valued at 1.5 million.  Distribution costs more as well.  Pipelines sit on high cost land, require constant oversight and maintainance  The tankers are using the same high cost fuel as everyone else and the drivers make more to keep pace with inflation.  These costs are also passed on to the consumer.