CA Energy Commission To Hold Hearing On High Gas Prices
Sacramento, CA The state’s energy commission will hold a hearing today focused on high gas prices, but California’s major oil companies say they will not take part.
The hearing will take place two months after the commission requested answers from the five largest oil companies related to record high gas prices in September and October. At the time it was averaging $6.43 per gallon for regular unleaded, or nearly $2.50 more than the national average.
The companies which were requested to attend, but have declined to participate, are Marathon, Valero, Phillips 66, PBF Energy, and Chevron. They have indicated that they are open to having conversations with state leaders, and the Governor’s Office, but do not want to take part in a political spectacle. Documents filed ahead of the meeting indicate that companies cite pipeline capacity, transportation challenges, and the state’s fuel blending requirements as reasons for the higher prices. The state also has one of the highest excise taxes on fuel, 54-cents.
Today’s hearing is meant to be informational only, with no policy changes adopted.
Governor Gavin Newsom has called for an upcoming special session of the legislature to look into recent record-breaking profits of oil companies, and to potentially pass new taxes on that revenue, in hopes that oil companies will reduce prices.
