California has the highest gasoline prices in the nation. Higher than Hawaii. And Governor Gavin Newsom wants an investigation into why? Let me help. High Taxes. Excessive Regulations. Dwindling Infrastructure. Put another way; Democrat Policy is to blame.
Related: New Hampshire Democrats: You Are Not Paying Enough for Electricity
Which policies? All of them.
Barack Obama was not the first Democrat nor the last to suggest energy prices needed to skyrocket. It’s baked into their half-baked worldview. The price of everything must go up. So, for a Democrat governor in a state run by Democrats to complain about the long-term impact of Democrat policy is, well, amusing.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday requested that the California Energy Commission investigate why the state’s gasoline prices are so much higher than the rest of the country, citing independent analysis that suggests there could be an “unaccounted-for price differential” resulting from “inappropriate industry practices.”
If the government is the “industry”, then it is inappropriate practices. State’s lacking this level of interference have a much lower price at the pump. But Democrats can’t go there; they’ll need a scapegoat.
In France, the goat was global warming, and they are still dealing with riots and protests over green policy taxes and policies that make energy unaffordable for the working French. Plans to add more taxes were scuttled after clashes with the police grew more violent.
California has been using the green agenda for hiking all of its energy prices. They are the American Left’s poster-child for energy policy; which is why their gas prices are so damn high.
Californians have been complaining about the steep rise in fuel prices; the American Automobile Association’s current fuel price listings per state lists the Pyrite State’s average fuel prices as $4.080 per gallon for regular, $4.227 for mid-grade and $4.340 for premium; diesel fuel costs average $4.101 per gallon.¹
According to Dana Pico’s reporting at RedState, California has little to no refining capacity. And the state’s blending rules make their gas unique. That means refineries outside the state must make it ‘special.’ That costs more, a lot more.
There are no pipelines, so their special fuel must be trucked in across the country, and that costs a lot more.
Then there are the taxes.
California’s state gasoline tax is 41.7¢ per gallon, a rate which jumps to 47.3¢ in July. In addition, there is a 2.25% gasoline sales tax, and “a low-carbon fuel standard and a cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emissions…”
California Democrats are to blame.
Those energy price-hike schemes are big on the left. We pay a lot for electricity around here but not enough. Infrastructure is absent. No pipelines, no power lines, no new capacity. So, NH Democrat solution is to propose another tax. The new one would change at the whim of an unelected board. Guess which way it would be changing? Up, and as often as possible.
A few years down the road Lawmakers could say, I want an investigation into why energy prices are so darn high. And like California’s gas prices, everyone would scratch their heads and ignore how they did it.
California has itself to blame but if I was a betting man the result of their investigation would blame anyone but Democrats and their energy policies. So, the moral of the story, Left Coast to East is when you elect Democrats you get the energy prices you deserve.
If you want something lower stop putting them in office, otherwise, shut up and pay it. You asked for it.
