SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 11,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog said the
California Senate's passage today
of Assembly Billx2-1 is a victory for all California drivers who could save $1 billion or more per year by avoiding gasoline
prices spikes driven by inadequate inventories when refineries go
down.
"The legislature has stood up to the four oil refiners that make
90% of our gasoline and said decisively California will no longer be suckers and fall
prey to the same old game of price spikes driven by inadequate
inventories and refinery maintenance," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog,
whose testimony for the proposal explained how the lack
of inventories have driven recent price and profit spikes.
"Requiring resupply arrangements is not rocket science, nor does it
mean refineries that need maintenance won't get it, it's simply
planning to avoid the price spikes that cost drivers an extra
$2 billion at the pump in 2023. The
state shouldn't have to require it, but the oligopoly of refiners
have taken advantage of their market power to short the market and
pump up their profits to obscene levels."
The Division of Petroleum Market Oversight found oil refiners
made more than $2
billion in excessive profits from price spikes during
July through September 2023. California Energy
Commission Vice Chair Siva Gunda gave testimony at an
Assembly hearing that the proposal will cost refiners no more than
$25 million for refiners to maintain
the added inventories and would likely result in potential savings
of half the cost of the price spike, $1
billion or more.
Unions Defend Refiner Profits In Legislator
Letter
Consumer Watchdog called out Chevron and some of their allied
unions for the misinformation they have been propagating.
"Chevron and some of the trade union leaders have outright lied
to legislators about this simple proposal in order to justify these
refiners' outrageous profits," said Court, pointing to a letter
sent last night to legislators by allied trade union
heads.
In the letter, the union heads argue, "Our members do not have
work unless these projects turn a profit. It should not be deemed
villainous to operate legal and needed industries that turn a
profit for shareholders, especially when they employ hundreds of
thousands of Californians and contribute billions of dollars in tax
revenue supporting essential state and local workers and services
across the state. These same companies spend millions of dollars
annually supporting local food pantries, Little League teams, and
local businesses, all of which benefit our members in their
communities. Profit should not be a dirty word in California or elsewhere. Profit employs our
members and allows them to feed their families."
"Profits are one thing, but the type of obscene level of profits
refiners make from price spikes in California is what this proposal guards
against," said Court. "Shame on these union heads for pimping for
the refiners that are ripping off their members at the pump in
pursuit of outrageous profit for their shareholders."
Consumer Watchdog published a short "Consumer Alert"
video on the issue.
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog