If you live in California, you've probably come across ads that blame state laws and policies for high gas prices. They are online, on television, in advertisements, in roadside billboards and even in the gasoline pumps themselves. One of them asks in big, bold letters “why is our gas expensive” and directs him to a “made per gallon” Website complaining about government taxes and fees on gasoline.
It's all part of a multi-million dollar advertising campaign by the oil industry to divert attention from their greed and place the blame for the highest gas prices in the country on California's environmental policies. The oil companies want you to believe that what you pay at the pump has nothing to do with the record profits they have been making, but is instead the fault of California leaders for trying to protect consumers, public health and the climate. .
It is simply more diversion by fossil fuel interests who want to continue profiting from a product that is polluting our air and overheating the planet.
The oil industry maintains that it is unfairly blamed for high gas prices and that its announcements are just an effort to bring the facts to light. But the “facts” are cherry-picked to mislead and exploit the economic anxieties of cash-strapped Californians to undermine pro-environment and consumer-friendly policies that some of the most powerful companies on the planet dislike.
The industry is spreading these ads across the state because of new laws California has passed to take reasonable steps to protect consumers from price gouging, impose greater transparency on industry profits and emissions, and put an end to new drilling near homes and schools, a health protection that the industry is trying to overturn in a referendum in the November election.
There is a new one surveillance division at the state Energy Commission that is beginning to monitor oil companies for possible market manipulation. The industry sees a threat to its profits and its opaque way of doing business, so it is fighting it tooth and nail.
Some of these ads are being funded by the Western States Petroleum Assn., one of the state's most powerful lobbyists, and others come from closely linked companies funded by the industry. front groupsas Californians for energy independence.
Their goal seems clear: to undermine these new laws that threaten to expose what money-greedy, planet-destroying oil companies really are. It's just the latest iteration of a years-long effort by the fossil fuel industry to sow misinformation about its environmental impacts and the transition to zero-emissions technology that has included a campaign. targeting California Latinos.
Here's what you need to know about gas prices to avoid being fooled by Big Oil's propaganda.
It's true that a portion of what Californians pay at the pump goes toward state and local taxes and fees, which fund road repairs, pollution reduction projects and other public benefits. But an even larger percentage of the cost per gallon goes to the oil industry for refining, distribution, marketing and profit. according to the California Energy Commission.
We don't know exactly what oil refiners, distributors and retailers are paying all that money for because those details have long been shrouded in mystery. While some goes to operating expenses, a good portion is pure profit, which increases when gas prices rise and flows into the coffers of Chevron, Valero and other oil companies.
It's also unclear why Californians pay so much more for gas. In February, California prices were $1.35 a gallon higher than the rest of the country, and 30 to 40 cents of that is what Severin Borenstein, economist at the University of California at Berkeley calls a “mysterious gas surcharge” that cannot be explained by higher taxes, fees or environmental standards,
But the oil companies want you to believe that they are struggling. The industry claims the state's six major oil refineries were losing an average of 31 cents per gallon at the end of last year, citing self-reported figures whose accuracy has been questioned by state officials. In fact, oil companies have been making money recently, posting some of the most profitable years in their history, while most Americans struggled to buy food, gasoline and other necessities.
So the next time you see one of these ads, remember that oil companies want to continue reaping windfall profits from the gas price increases that California is trying to responsibly curb, even though it's worsening inflation and getting out of consumers' pockets.
Californians should be smart enough to see this message for what it is: the behavior of a threatened, greed-driven industry trying to trick us into allowing it to keep its old, dirty, harmful ways of doing business.
