By Assemblymember Marie Waldron
The State Legislature adjourned for the year August 31st, but a special session to deal with gas prices has been called. Several proposals are on the table.
One proposal would require refiners to withhold fuel from the market to build up reserves and serve as a cushion against price spikes. But there are debates regarding this proposal. The California Energy Commission has reviewed the plan and warned that withholding gasoline to create the reserve may actually cause shortages and drive up costs.
California is the nation’s 7th largest oil producing state. The oil we use is either produced here, or it’s imported. In 1984, almost 60% of our oil was produced in California. Today, 75% of our oil is imported and over 60% comes from foreign sources.
Importing vast amounts of oil should be unnecessary. We have some of the largest oil reserves in the nation, with most of our oil production centered in Kern County. Importing oil costs jobs and drives up the cost of virtually everything. As with any commodity, decreased supplies drive up costs. Replacing California oil with foreign oil shipped thousands of miles on supertankers from countries with few if any environmental standards costs jobs, increases inflation, and degrades the environment – it is counterproductive on all levels
Other proposals for the special session include legislation that would suspend the gas tax (the nation’s highest at about 60 cents per gallon), exempt gasoline from Cap-and-Trade which adds about 30 cents per gallon, suspend a planned update that could add another 52 cents per gallon, increase oil production to decrease dependence on imported oil, increase storage capacity, provide drivers with a small rebate to help offset costs, and increase transparency by creating a public dashboard that will compare California gas prices to national averages.
We’ll soon see what, if anything, is accomplished in the special session. As always, I’m hoping that common sense prevails.
Assemblymember Marie Waldron, R- Valley Center, represents the 75th Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the cities of Poway, Santee, portions of the City of San Diego, and most of rural eastern and northern San Diego County.
