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When folks voted No on Prop. 6 last November, they voted YES on another gas tax increase—up another 5 cents a gallon. Then, on 1/1/20, thanks to cap and trade, the gas tax could go up another 73 cents a gallon. Remember, one reason the price of gas has skyrocketed recently is because Sacramento—not the market place, demands a special gas blend, starting April 1. That is more expensive to produce. Government—via taxes and regulations—is the major cause of the price of gas and making people in California poorer. Thought you should understand we need to control government. Oh, do not forget we have to IMPORT oil for gas, since Sacramento will not allow the drilling in many places—and then you have counties like Santa Barbara that gave up one billion dollars from the oil companies for the right to drill for oil, Poverty? A construct of government.

Gasoline prices up 8 straight weeks, with California on track to pay the most in nearly 5 years

California may soon pay more than $4 a gallon on average: GasBuddy

MyraP. SaefongMarket Watch, 4/8/19

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gasoline-prices-up-8-straight-weeks-with-california-on-track-to-pay-the-most-in-nearly-5-years-2019-04-08

Gasoline prices at the pump have climbed for eight weeks in a row, and California is expected to soon pay an average of more than $4 a gallon for the first time in almost five years, according to GasBuddy.

“The national average gas price has now risen for 2 months straight, tacking on a total of 50 cents per gallon in the last 90 days,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for fuel-price tracker GasBuddy. That’s the longest run of consecutive weekly gains since 2015. It also means Americans will pay nearly $200 million more at the pump today than back in early January, he said.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded stood at $2.745 early Monday afternoon, according to GasBuddy. That’s up 27.3 cents a gallon from last month’s average of $2.472.

California and the West Coast has been hit particularly hard, after “seeing a surge in unexpected refinery outages, leading to an extremely tight supply of cleaner summer gasoline and causing prices to skyrocket,” said DeHaan. California’s average price for regular unleaded was at $3.793 a gallon early Monday afternoon, up 49.1 cents from last month’s average of $3.302.

“California will soon be home to something not seen in nearly five years: a statewide average of over $4 per gallon, with some of the largest cities there swelling to averages as high as $4.15 per gallon before any relief arrives,” he said. “It really is going to be ugly this week in the West Coast, and any further issues could lead to more spikes, but for the rest of the country, expect the rise to continue for a ninth straight week with little good news on the horizon.”

A rally in oil prices has contributed to the fuel-price spike, with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude trading at their highest in five months. May WTI oil CLK9, -0.87% was up $1.02, or 1.6%, at $64.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Monday dealings. May gasoline futures RBK9, +0.58% were also up 1.5 cents, or 0.8%, at $1.984 a gallon.

The Energy Information Administration recently reported a surge in U.S. crude inventories for the week ended March 29. The data, however, also revealed that gasoline and distillate fuel inventories dropped “as refinery utilization rates fell due to maintenance and a high level of unexpected outages in the West Coast, where utilization fell nearly 2%,” according to GasBuddy.

Refinery outages hampered the rollout of California Air Resources Board-mandated summer gasoline that began just a week ago, and with extensive seasonal refinery maintenance in the region, gasoline prices saw a nearly 50-cent-per-gallon average rise in California in the last month, GasBuddy reported.

Looking ahead, gas prices will likely continue to surge along the West Coast this week, “while the rest of the country generally continues to see prices slowly marching higher,” the fuel-price tracker said. “Peak gasoline prices may be at best still a few weeks away as the transition to cleaner gasoline and refinery maintenance season continues.”