It’s the indirect stuff. All the regulations and special summer formulations of gas that have to be delivered by teams of unicorns, etc., etc.
As @mdolan92869 said, part of it is because of the unicorns for sure. But here's some more info. In 1980 there were 43 refineries making California's special blend of gas. Now there's only 14. Most of the refineries have switched to BioDiesel because California is paying them close to $350M each to transition from crude oil. Supply has shrunk and demand remains relatively the same or even more than 1980 when the state had 16 million fewer people in it. While EV adoption is on the rise it hasn't outpaced the number of new residents, most of whom are lower income. Those people can't afford EVs so they buy gas vehicles. In 2012, the EPA removed the necessity for vapor recovery from fuel citing that it was unnecessary, California still imposes it which is just more added cost to fuel suppliers. Reality is that it's only going to get worse. As the state imposes more regulation on refineries, bribes them to switch to bio fuels and enacts legislation to ban all ICE vehicles, prices will only continue to rise.
Not to mention that everything causes cancer there.
Very true ... EVERYTHING
Heh, back in the ‘90s there was a gas station that prided itself on being the most expensive in the Bay Area. They were about 1.7 x the average station in pricing and close to twice the price of the cheapest station on the Peninsula (which was about 1/4 mile away as the goose flies). Every time I passed it I couldn’t believe that there were cars at the pumps. If that station was around today they’d be ~$9 per gallon. ??
What makes you think either the franchisee or Chevron own the land? Seriously, it’s likely held by a property company. They’ll charge the most they can for the land that still results in a rental, cause that’s how it works.
Yep, banning local oil production forces imports and higher prices. There are a ton of other factors that really do come down to politics. Counties are actively trying to force refineries to close. They do this by constantly tightening emissions to unrealistic numbers forcing numerous 10s of millions of dollars upgrades that are frankly untested and unreliable. This leads to more down time. They also make it ridiculously expensive and time consuming to get the mandatory upgrades approved (this is the same tactic that has closed numerous power plants). They’ve managed to shut down two refineries already (converting to terminals). $3/gallon will never be seen again.
You can’t bring common sense to California… lmao. Realistically, they don’t care about long term effects. They only care about what looks good in the public eye on the surface, most people won’t dig deeper.
As @Motomax eluded to, California doesn't actually care about reducing emissions, they only care about shipping it elsewhere. This is basically the same for solar panels, EV batteries etc. While our emissions go down, someone else's goes up. It's all for show and at our expense.
