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Uploaded: Tuesday, October 9, 2012, 10:47 AM
Gov. Brown issues order to help reduce gas prices
California Air Resources Board will allow refineries to switch to winter gasoline blend
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The California Air Resources Board announced Sunday evening that it is easing certain restrictions on gasoline production in response to a directive issued by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Brown ordered the board to allow refineries to switch to a gasoline blend that is normally only used in winter in an effort to lower gas prices.
The order, issued Sunday, directed the board to take whatever steps are necessary to authorize refineries to make an early switch to winter-blend gasoline. The blend, which isn't normally sold until after Oct. 31, evaporates more quickly than summer blend and is worse for air quality during the smog season, according to state officials.
However, an early transition to it could increase the state's fuel supply by an estimated 8 to 10 percent with a negligible air-quality impact, Brown said. Due to its composition, refiners can produce more of the winter blend.
In response to the governor's order, the California Air Resources Board announced that it will allow the manufacture, importation, distribution and sale of the winter-grade gasoline. State officials said the recent spike in gas prices, which has seen gas prices above $5 a gallon in some areas, has been fueled in part by recent disruptions in gas production, including at an Exxon refinery in Southern California.
However, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said that even with the disruptions, gas production in the state this week remained nearly as high as a year ago, and that stockpiles remain similar to last year's. Feinstein sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Sunday calling for an investigation into the price hike.
"California's consumers are all too familiar with energy price spikes, which cannot be explained by market fundamentals and which turn out years later to have been the result of malicious and manipulative trading activity," Feinstein said in the letter.— Bay City News Service Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by kman, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 2:18 pm WTF, the gas companies are making money hands over foot, and they can't build more refineries in case of this type of accidents or failures?
In the computer world, we have backup machines to take over failed primary machines.
Oh but wait, if the refineries did that, then they couldn't charge the outrageous prices.
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Posted by Dr. Collateral, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Dr. Collateral is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online And where would one suggest that the gas companies build these new refineries? The last time I looked, we couldn't even build a cell tower in Mountain View without having half the community tear at the city council. That would be a doll party compared to building a refinery, anywhere (though the ground's already poisoned underneath Hanger One - how about we put one there?)
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Posted by Rossta, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Rossta is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online Wait a minute! Don't they usually RAISE gas prices in the winter, saying that California needs a special blend not used anywhere else? But, switching to it now is going to be cheaper because it is easier for them to make? This isn't adding up for me.
Good for Feinstein for asking it to be investigated.
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Posted by Darin, a resident of another community, on Oct 9, 2012 at 2:47 pm Re: "the gas companies are making money hands over foot, and they can't build more refineries in case of this type of accidents or failures?"
It has been decades since the construction of a new refinery has been approved in California.
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Posted by Ron, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 3:52 pm @kman: You really have to pay more attention. The companies have been trying to build more refineries for years. California NEVER approves them. This, along with the special blends, keep prices higher hear than just about anyplace else. Simple supply and demand really. Charging high prices is NOT the goal Einstein. Making MONEY is the goal. If they could produce more and charge less they could sell far more and make bigger profits. High prices DEPRESS sales numbers. High prices mean higher airplane fares, for example, which means fewer people fly and less gas is sold. It is NOT that complicated.
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Posted by Ron, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 3:56 pm @Rossta: Actually, they use special blends in BOTH seasons, which keeps our prices high since we cannot share with other states and keep prices low. The winter blend happens to be cheaper to produce than the summer blend, but they are BOTH more expensive than not doing a special blend at all.
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Posted by Bettina, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 4:19 pm From MTBE to ETHANOL...........What next?
Web Link
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Posted by Always Evolving, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2012 at 9:00 am With these suoper high prices I'm putting small amounts of gas in my car, just enough, and then hopping on my bike whenever I can. I may actually _gain_ money by spending more for gas, but using it far less.
There are ways around this temporary spike, it just takes a bit of effort on the part of the individual. If you expect to continue "business as usual" with your actions though, yes, it'll cost you more.
For me I figure its good practice for the inevitable future when gas is regularly over $5/gal. I guess its also good practice for those who refuse to get out of their cars, even for small trips. Its a way of getting used to how much you will regularly have to pay for gas. Probably in about one year we'll see $5/gal daily.
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Posted by curious, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2012 at 9:26 am It is NOT inevitable that gas will cost over $5 a gallon if we kick the current bunch of lunatics out of office at the upcoming election.
There is something in economics called the law of supply and demand. If supply decreases with fixed demand, like from people who have to drive to work, then prices increase. The politicians like Feinstein can't repeal this law no matter how much they huff and puff.
But if you get more supply prices drop. Look what happened to the price of natural gas with the increased supply. What do politicians like Brown do to temporarily placate the sheeple near election time? They increase supply by temporarily easing the insane requirements that keep our prices over $1/gallon higher than the rest of the country.
The secret that the petty tyrants at the CA Air Resources Board (now that's an Orwellian name) do not want you to know is that the air in the rest of the country is just as clean as here. There would be no difference in air quality if we switched to the same gas used in other states. But it would return billions to the CA economy to drop out 10+% unemployment.
But that will never happen unless we kick these fools out of office.
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Posted by kman, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2012 at 2:00 pm Ah, i did not know that the refineries are not able to build more refineries here in CA. WTF, why not? Who the hell is in charge of these type of things? Like curious up above said, vote them all out.
If you want to know the profits being made by supply and demand, just look at the following
And the most valuable company right now is…
1. ExxonMobil – $428 Billion – As long as you keep filling up, Google will have a hard time knocking them off…
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