Post #70414 by Dope1 on the US Policy board

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The data is pretty clear:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/03...

On gas prices, Californians are getting hosed
California and the West Coast are like a whole other country when it comes to fuel costs.

Don't forget Washington.

In a year when the buzzword in politics was “affordability” and inflation was voters’ top concern, gasoline prices were a bright spot. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in 2025 declined by 21 cents from the year before, to $3.10, and 2025 was the third straight year of falling prices, according to the Energy Information Administration.
But the West Coast stands apart. Four of the EIA’s five regions had similar average gas prices in 2025. The West Coast region was over $1 higher. It pulls up the national average so far that the other four regions are all below it, even the East Coast, which uses the most gasoline.

This isn’t a red-state/blue-state issue. Other Democratic-governed states don’t have gas prices as high as California’s, and they aren’t that different from Republican-governed states. The EIA doesn’t track weekly gas prices for every state, but of the ones that it does, California stands out (along with Washington). The lowest average gas price that Californians saw in any week of 2025 was 88 cents higher than the highest average price New Yorkers saw.

That last paragraph is wrong. It IS a red/blue issue. Washington and Oregon's laws often parrot California's with Washington wanting to prove that it can out-left the lefties in CA. With respect to gasoline, that would be the "Climate Commitment Act" that the execrable Jay Inslee signed into law. It jacked up our already sky-high gas costs even further.

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