Post by Logan on Jul 1, 2016 23:15:58 GMT -6
Are oil refineries in California manipulating supplies to raise gasoline prices and gouge drivers? State Attorney General Kamala Harris has issued subpoenas to oil refiners to find out.
This move has appeal for those who hate paying a lot for gas (and who doesn’t?) and those who view fossil-fuel energy companies as villains as well as for Harris as a U.S. Senate candidate on the November ballot. But we’ve been down this road before — many times. The problem for conspiracy theorists is that the conventional explanations as to why California gas prices are both higher than the rest of the nation and more volatile make sense.
The state has among the highest gasoline taxes in the nation and the most demanding fuel standards in the world, raising costs and making it difficult to bring in new supplies when there are shortages because of high demand or problems at refineries producing California-specific fuel. There are fewer such refineries than there used to be.
As for why gas prices are now high, Gordon Schremp, senior fuels analyst for the California Energy Commission, says an explosion last year at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance and other outages have caused supply shortages.
Read more: www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jul/01/california-alleged-gas-gouging/
This move has appeal for those who hate paying a lot for gas (and who doesn’t?) and those who view fossil-fuel energy companies as villains as well as for Harris as a U.S. Senate candidate on the November ballot. But we’ve been down this road before — many times. The problem for conspiracy theorists is that the conventional explanations as to why California gas prices are both higher than the rest of the nation and more volatile make sense.
The state has among the highest gasoline taxes in the nation and the most demanding fuel standards in the world, raising costs and making it difficult to bring in new supplies when there are shortages because of high demand or problems at refineries producing California-specific fuel. There are fewer such refineries than there used to be.
As for why gas prices are now high, Gordon Schremp, senior fuels analyst for the California Energy Commission, says an explosion last year at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance and other outages have caused supply shortages.
Read more: www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jul/01/california-alleged-gas-gouging/