Americans are feeling the sting at the pump. Since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, global oil markets have gone haywire. Crude has topped $100 a barrel, U.S. gasoline futures spiked, and the national average for regular unleaded surged more than 27% in just weeks. The national average cost of gasoline was around $2.94 a gallon in February, but now is nearly $3.88, and thousands in the 27th Congressional District are feeling this reality every day as they make their commutes. 

The attacks in the Middle East have delivered a painful reminder of how fragile energy markets remain. 

Yet nowhere is the pain sharper than in California. Today, the statewide average for regular gas hovers around $5.50 per gallon — which is even higher than Hawaii! For a typical 15-gallon fill-up, that’s an extra $25-$30 compared to most of the country. The Iran conflict provided the spark, but don’t let California’s supermajority fool you: The tinder was already stacked high. 

California’s punishing gas prices have been festering for decades, the predictable result of deliberate policy choices that prioritize environmental mandates over affordability and supply reality. While the rest of America benefits from abundant domestic production and market flexibility, California has engineered a system that keeps fuel artificially scarce and expensive. 

Last December, I traveled from Cape Canaveral to Los Angeles for work and got to experience our state’s fuel price foolishness firsthand. Traveling west through Mississippi and Louisiana, prices stayed in the $2.50 range. The Gulf Coast refineries, pipelines and straightforward supply chains kept things stable. 

Then came Texas and New Mexico — still comfortable. 

But the moment I crossed the California state line near Needles, the numbers jumped like someone flipped a switch. Within 50 miles, stations were posting over $4 a gallon. By the time I reached Los Angeles, the average had settled at $4.40-plus. 

The same regular unleaded I bought for $2.50 in Alabama now cost me nearly $2 more per gallon. 

The difference wasn’t crude oil prices or seasonal blends; those were identical across the route. It was California’s policies and dismissal of the importance refineries play in our state. 

That dramatic swing wasn’t a fluke. It’s the daily reality shaped by Sacramento’s long-standing policies. 

First, the tax burden. California layers on state excise taxes, cap-and-trade fees, and environmental surcharges that add nearly 80-90 cents per gallon — far more than Alabama’s modest combined state and local take. 

Second, the California Air Resources Board gasoline mandates: Since the 1990s, California has required a unique, ultra-clean reformulated fuel that only a handful of in-state refineries can produce, which we will have less of with the shutting down of the Benecia and Wilmington refineries. 

That specialty blend costs refiners 20-40 cents extra per gallon to make and leaves the state isolated from cheaper national supplies. 

Third, and most damaging, is the self-inflicted supply crunch. Strict environmental rules, lengthy permitting delays, and outright hostility to new infrastructure have driven refinery closures and prevented expansions. 

California’s refining capacity has shrunk dramatically while demand remains high. Unlike Alabama, which sits next door to the nation’s largest refining hub on the Gulf, California has no major pipelines bringing in cheaper fuel from elsewhere. When global prices rise, California has nowhere to turn. 

The result is a chronically elevated price floor that sits $1.50 to $2.50 above the national average even in calm times. 

The numbers tell the story plainly. In December 2025, California already led the nation at around $4.29 per gallon while the national average stayed under $3. Today, the gap has only widened. Alabama’s drivers feel the national increase, but they started from a lower baseline built on softer policy and geographic advantage. 

Californians, meanwhile, absorb the full blow on top of years of accumulated policy costs. 

Lawmakers in Sacramento chose the most expensive fuel standards, the heaviest taxes, and the most restrictive permitting environment in the country. Those choices don’t vanish when oil markets tighten; they amplify every shock to the energy markets.   

The massive price disparity we see today — the one I witnessed firsthand driving across the nation — does not rest on foreign wars or oil sheikhs. It sits squarely on the back of California’s own policies. 

Until Sacramento acknowledges that reality and begins unwinding the regulatory thicket that keeps fuel expensive by design, Golden State drivers will continue paying the highest price in America, crisis or no crisis.  

Jason Gibbs is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.

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