Remember Gas price disproportionately steal from low income households (higher percentage of their income). Many Southern Californians are easy prey by the Gasoline Refiners as they must drive to work, they are forced to buy gas no matter what the price.
CBS 7-22-2015- Higher gas prices frustrate California drivers
In most of the country, gas prices are dropping again. AAA says a gallon of regular is averaging $2.75 nationwide. The big exception is California, where it's up to $3.87.
"I don't know if it's collusion. I doubt they had a conversation, because they're not that dumb," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. "But I know they're doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time, and it's driving prices through the roof and they're getting rich off of it."
This MONOPOLY need broken up by the US Dept of Justice. As far as I can tell Kamala Harris has done nothing with the gouging/profiteering evidence submitted to her over a month ago.
What's behind California's gas price spike?
"What we're looking at is a system where inventories have been kept really, really low by four oil refineries that control 78 percent of the market. And by keeping inventories low, they keep gas prices artificially high, and with it, their profits are artificially high," Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court said.
His organization sent a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris Monday with evidence it says confirms that oil refineries have been shipping gas to Central and South America instead of keeping it for California.
"That's happening at a time when our well is supposed to be dry," Court said. "It's clearly gouging. It's clearly profiteering."
Time Mag: Gas Prices Are Freakishly Expensive in This Part of the Country
LA Times - Why gas prices in California are so much higher than elsewhere in U.S
.....Consumer advocates allege refiners are fixing prices, exploiting the disruptions to pad their profits.
State senators held a joint committee hearing last week in Sacramento wanting to know why gas prices had risen so much so quickly. Two companies — Chevron Corp. and Tesoro — now control 55% of the refining capacity in the state. At last week's Senate hearing, one antitrust official called the industry an oligopoly — in which a few firms hold most of the power.
08/10/2015 | ConsumerAffairs: as prices falling nearly everywhere but California
$201 per driver
The nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog says Californians paid $1.2 billion more, after tax differentials, than the rest of the nation in the month of July, a record, and $4.8 billion more for their gasoline over the last six months ending July 31st, since gas price spikes started.
That amounts to $201 extra paid by each California driver, according to the group’s calculations.
“Oil refiners are getting rich off Californians’ pain at the pump and it's time they pay a price for their profiteering at Californians expense,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “We need new laws to stop the California gouging and we are very grateful that [billionaire environmentalist] Tom Steyer is stepping up to flex his muscle to help secure new standards to protect Californians’ wallets.”
CBS-LA Consumer Watchdog: SoCal Oil Refiners Double Profits While Gas Prices Soar
Oil is cheap, but gas is still expensive in California
SF Chronicle: Steyer to CA politicians: Time to act on gas prices Billionaire activist Tom Steyer wants the Legislature to fix what he calls California’s dysfunctional gasoline market, with drivers here paying $1 more for a gallon of regular than other Americans. And if the Legislature doesn’t act, Steyer may go to the voters with a ballot measure. Steyer, a major Democratic donor and former hedge fund executive, on Wednesday urged legislators to pass a series of proposals designed to protect California consumers from sudden spikes in the price of gasoline.
Will U.S. Attorneys Stop the California Gas Gouge? Gasoline in California is one buck more per gallon than it is in the rest of America, thanks to low inventories and a series of suspicious oil-refinery shutdowns that drove huge first-quarter profits for the oil companies. Are California oil refiners manipulating gasoline supplies through shutdowns to drive pump prices and profits higher?
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