by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
California’s oil and gas industry contributes $166 billion of economic activity to California’s Gross State Product
A new study by USC Professor Michael Mische found that the factors which have contributed to California’s high gasoline prices over 50-years are self-imposed by state officials and politicians. It turns out that California is its own worst enemy.
Today, I paid $5.15 per gallon of gas in Sacramento, while the AAA national average is $3.078. In Texas today, a gallon of gas will cost you $2.45 to $3.29 – the average in Texas is $2.68. As Professor Mische notes in his study, “Since January 1995 through January 20, 2025, Californians have been paying, on average, 13.1% more for their gasoline than the rest of the nation. Not surprisingly, the average price of retail gasoline in California on March 11, 2025, was $4.694 a gallon, or 52.35% higher per gallon for all formulations than the national average price for gasoline at $3.081, according to AAA.”
It is no secret that California is its own worst enemy. There have been articles exposing this for decades, and now we have 50 years of irrefutable data thanks to Professor Mische. Oil and gas and California refiners “have not engaged in widespread price gouging, profiteering, price manipulation, ‘unexplained residual prices’ or surcharges, magical or otherwise.”
However, Governor Gavin Newsom, who is currently preoccupied with his new vanity podcast may want to consider talking to oil and gas industry officials – something he has failed to do in his 6 years as California’s governor.
