A little-known longstanding fossil fuels reduction program that was put in place by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) could very well lead to a 50-cent per gallon cost increase for gasoline and diesel fuel sold in the state. The report, released in September by the state’s environmental regulator body, says that California may see the increase of 50 cents per gallon as early as next year and every year after that. The program’s fee is in addition to the gas tax increases already put in place by Senate Bill 1 of 2017, where the state authorized an increase in the state’s taxes on gas and diesel.
Included in the cost for every gallon of gas sold is approximately $1.00 of fees and taxes. With this report, it would bring the total of taxes and fees per gallon to $1.50 next year. The report is forecasting these increases due to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard reforms brought forward in 2007. Prices could likely rise by 47 cents next year and 52 cents by 2026, with diesel prices climbing by 59 cents this year and 66 cents in two years. Long-term projections could see gasoline prices explode by $1.15 and diesel by $1.50 per gallon from 2031 to 2046.
Gas prices in California in the last five years years, have grown to the highest levels ever seen in the history of the State. Some individual stations across the state in the same timeframe saw prices go to almost $10 per gallon, making gasoline in the Golden State the most expensive in the entire country. At the same time, Governor Gavin Newsom has gone on a propaganda campaign across the state and even the country, pointing his finger directly at the oil companies. Newsom wrongly suggested that the oil companies were responsible for the sharp increase in gas prices across the state.
This recent report is just another step made by Newsom and his administration to attack on anything related to oil and gas. With the state banning sales of any vehicle with a gas/diesel powered engine by 2035 and requiring all vehicle sales to be electric by the same year, Newsom is not hiding his hatred for these vehicles. This future increase in the costs of gasoline and diesel will affect every person living in California. Specifically, it will crush the lower and middle class living in the state. With the rising costs in everything across the board, gasoline is quickly becoming the most expensive consumable product in the state, and will eventually become too expensive for the lower class and even some of the middle class to afford.
The state’s broad effort to electrify its transportation sector is part of the California Climate Commitment unveiled by Newsom two years ago. Under the plan, the state is phasing out reliance on fossil fuels, deploying green energy, cutting greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2045 and decreasing oil demand by a staggering 94%.
This most recent move by the California Air Resources Board, a board of un-elected bureaucrats that are beholden to their overseer named Gavin Newsom, shows that Newsom and his fellow leftists are hell-bent on destroying the middle and lower classes in California. No explanation or attempt at justifying this policy makes logical sense to those of us who try to understand it. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that your bank account is shrinking at an ever-increasing pace, and it isn’t because you are buying luxury cars or homes. It’s because you decided to fill up your car to get to work and get groceries on the same day. Bills are getting pushed back instead of getting paid on time, credit cards are getting maxed out and people are starting to raise concerns about paying the mortgage or rent on time now.
I keep driving by the gas stations and thinking that I will never see the price of gas go down to $3 a gallon ever again in California. Every year, it will get more expensive, and every time, Newsom will blame oil companies and people like me, who drive large vehicles with larger engines and even larger gas tanks. Newsom and his fellow leftists are taking away our freedoms, plain and simple.
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