If you’re like me, you’re concerned about high gas prices in California.

As someone who watches the stock market, I shake my head at how California’s Democrat-controlled government somehow keeps the average price of regular gas above $4 per gallon, when oil prices are low, and when most other states enjoy much lower prices.

So, to help you and your family, here are SaveCalifornia.com’s 5 ways to fight against high gas prices:

1. Before you go to a gas station, do what I do — check out the best prices in your vicinity.

2. Drive less if you can, by driving more for your needs than your wants. This will likely mean combining errands. Sometimes this will mean changing where you buy goods and services. And might mean buying more online.

3. Consider buying a used car that averages above 30 mpg. Here are 15 fuel-efficient used cars under $5,000

4. When voting, don’t for an environmental activist candidate or ballot measure, because you’ll be supporting a lower supply of energy and higher energy prices (as well as higher prices for housing, food, and water).

5. Remember that Democrats have controlled the California State Legislature for 60 years. They caused and are still causing your high energy prices.

Why are gasoline prices so high in California?

• California’s Democrat politicians, with the help of self-interested government unions, are devoted to big, expensive government, as well as to liberal environmental activists who regard dirt and trees as more important than people made in the image of God and people’s private property. The Democrat politicians have imposed the highest state gas tax in the nation: $1.26 a gallon (98 cents in gas taxes and gas fees, plus a 28-cent “mystery tax”).
   
• California also has the highest gas prices in the contiguous 48 states.
   
• California’s Democrat-run government forces gasoline to be more expensive to formulate, which is another disincentive to oil refineries trying to do business here:
  

“For many years, California also required that summer-blend gasoline — which is more expensive to produce and contains extra additives designed to reduce air pollution in the summer — be used all year round. So, while gasoline prices typically fall in September across the United States as stations switch to the cheaper winter blend, Californians were left paying higher prices. In 2012, around the time gasoline prices were breaking records, Governor Jerry Brown changed the regulations to permit winter-blend gasoline to be sold in California in an attempt to bring down rising gasoline prices. Still, both the summer and winter blends of gasoline used in California are more expensive to produce than those used in any other state.” “California Is Approaching $4 Gasoline, But It Has Only Itself To Blame,” Forbes, Sept. 28, 2018

• In 2017, the Democrat-controlled California Energy Commission crowed about no new refineries and no new refineries:

“Permitting Issues. It is unlikely that new refineries will be built in California. In fact, from 1985 to 1995, 10 California refineries closed, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in refining capacity. Further refinery closures are expected for small refineries with capacities of less than 50,000 barrels per day. The cost of complying with environmental regulations and low product prices will continue to make it difficult to continue operating
older, less efficient refineries.”Source

• And the Democrat politicians have also prohibited interstate oil pipelines into California, thus decreasing the supply, increasing the demand, and jacking up the price of gas for us all:

“With no major pipelines connecting California to its neighbors, the state remains largely untouched by the shale boom. While refiners in the Midwest and Gulf Coast are awash in cheap, American crude, those in California are paying as much as $6 more per barrel for oil shipped from Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Colombia. That’s taken a toll on California pump prices, which were 61 cents higher per gallon last year than the national average.” 
Source: Bloomberg.com

I hope you benefit from this information and will share it with others. California’s high gas prices are a negative consequence of our bad state government. When voters revolt against the establishment, this can change. In the meantime, let’s save on gas where we can.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
Proverbs 29:2