Why California gasoline is so expensive

The San Diego Union Tribune reports:

Although oil markets are bankrupting producers and draining government coffers from Moscow to Riyadh, plummeting costs are filling the pockets of ordinary consumers this year, right?

Um, wrong, at least in California, where state government helps the refining industry keep gasoline prices aloft for months at a time.


On Monday, at $2.55 a gallon, the average cost of gasoline was 11 cents higher than it was a year ago in the Golden State, the federal Energy Information Administration reports.

You read that right. Unlike the rest of the nation, our price actually moved higher as the benchmark West Texas crude oil tumbled by 33 percent from a year ago and 50 percent since July.

The green religion is an expensive religion.