I can give you two good reasons, or maybe just guesses.  First, California has the third highest gas tax in the country ($0.585/gallon). Second, I believe they also have pretty stringent EPA standards that drive up costs at the pump.  I seem to remember that they require the stations to have special fitted nozzles to capture any vapors that might escape during fill-up.

I applaud the effort to protect the environment, but it does have associated costs to consumers.  I think the theory behind it is that if its made expensive enough, consumers will demand alternatives to fossil fuels.  I hope it works!  We need to get off our fossil fuel dependency. (And, on a personal note, I want an affordable ALL-electric car.)

No doubt there is a lot of corporate greed fueling the gas prices (pun intended), but we have that everywhere.  I think the reasons stated explain why the price is so much worse in California.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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