The high gasoline prices in California are due more to state government policies that have artificially restricted supply. The state requires a special blend that's not really used anywhere else, and they don't allow construction of new refineries.
> The high gasoline prices in California are due more to state government policies that have artificially restricted supply.
To the extent that's true (and its a rather including incomplete story) as an intermediate cause, those policies themselves exist to meet federal pollution mandates, which California has, and even moreso in the last had, particular population and geography challenges with, particularly in the LA basin.
