The toll ofgasolineat the heart is up across the country , but no state looks like feeling the con game more than California . While some states are still seeing prices under $ 4 per gal , the Golden State is currentlyaveraging$5.866 a Imperial gallon ; residents ofLos Angeles Countycan expect to ring up over $ 6 per gallon . That ’s $ 2higherthan price were just one year ago .
Oil prices have , of course , spikedfollowingRussia ’s invasion ofUkraine : boycotts of Russian oil have far - accomplish personal effects on global supply . But what is it about California that makes gas steep than in the rest of the country ?
harmonize toThe Hill , it ’s a conflux of factors , but most of the inculpation rests on the country ’s gamey tax rates coupled with tougher emission standard , both of which can mean as much as $ 1.27 tack on toprices — along with a geographic crease .
California is what ’s known as a “ fuel island , ” meaning it does n’t have fuel funneled to it via cost - conserving interstate line . Instead , fuel is either produced in - state or delivered by ship or motortruck . Because the fuel is preponderantly from out of DoS ( roughly 30 percent is made in - State Department ) , the price of transportation adds to the cost at the pump .
A born solution would be to increase local yield , but allot to Kevin Slagle of the Western States Petroleum Association , a trade group representing oil and gas producer , the state is get trouble release the necessary permits . It ’s a metre - consuming cognitive operation that plainly is n’t happening fast enough to ease the site .
“ We ’re just not being bring out permits , ” Slagle told The Hill . “ So a mess we could see is … let ’s get the permit offered to us , get them in the champaign , permit us make , so that a few months down the line , we ’ve started to increase production . ”
Another added disbursement in the state is a gas surcharge that appeared in 2015 accompany an ExxonMobil refinery plosion , which amounts to close to 30 penny per gallon .
Taken as a whole , it ’s small wonderment California is home to roughly aquarterof the intact country ’s fleet of electric vehicles .
[ h / tThe Hill ]
