SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It was only a month ago that California Gov. Gavin Newsom concluded an emergency session of the state Legislature by signing that special session’s crowning achievement: Legislation that requires the state’s dwindling number of oil refiners to maintain larger inventories and have longer lead times before planning for refinery maintenance. The session gave the governor plenty of time to rail against so-called price gouging. “Price spikes have cost Californians billions of dollars … and we’re not waiting around for the industry to do the right thing — we’re taking action to prevent these price spikes and save consumers money at the pump,” he said regarding the new law. Beaming lawmakers headed into the election vowing to lower gas prices, which are around $1.50 a gallon higher than the national average. The whole session was political theater. Industry observers say the new regulations will add costs and could lead to higher gas prices. Everyone understands the reason for the state’s high prices. The government imposes the highest gas taxes in the nation. It mandates a special formulation used nowhere else, which lowers supply. It imposes the nation’s most stringent environmental rules. And the state’s official policy is to eliminate fossil fuel production, which makes refiners unwilling to invest in new capacity. Every once in a while, newspapers report on a so-called “mystery” gas surcharge to explain why Californians pay more at the pump than other Americans. But that’s absurd. It’s no mystery, but the direct result of the above-mentioned policies. It’s also not a mystery why the state’s gas prices likely will soar again. Newsom and his legislative allies spent weeks hyperventilating about the impact of high gas prices on California consumers, but then on Friday I heard no indignant speeches from them as a state regulatory agency approved a rule that will boost gas prices by an estimated 47 cents to 65 cents a gallon. Newsom previously made a few comments about transparency, but I can’t find any statement about the 12-2 vote from an agency dominated by his own appointees. Go figure. Specifically, the California Air Resources Board voted to update the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. According to the agency’s statement, it’s designed to “channel global, national and local private sector investment towards increasing cleaner fuel and transportation options for consumers, accelerating the deployment of zero-emission infrastructure, and keeping the state on track to meet legislatively mandated air quality and climate targets.” The LCFS program basically imposes more aggressive reductions in the state’s cap-and-trade system. As CARB further explains, the LCFS “reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by setting a declining carbon intensity target for transportation fuels used in California; producers that don’t meet established benchmarks buy credits from those that do.” This obviously will have an impact on gasoline prices. CARB’s own researchers reportedly said the rules would increase costs by 47 cents a gallon next year and much higher in coming years. Now suddenly those estimates can’t be trusted, or maybe the new rules won’t even affect gas prices or it’s now somehow impossible to calculate the extra costs. Don’t try to find that old document on CARB’s website. A CARB official told attendees at its Riverside board meeting that “Any claims that LCFS is responsible for high gas prices is misleading at best and not supported by the data,” per a Los Angeles Times report. Yet the story pointed to a study last month from the University of Pennsylvania Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, which provided supportive data: “If LCFS credit prices reach their maximum allowed levels, as has occurred in the past, then retail gasoline price impacts could be $0.65 per gallon in the near term, $0.85 per gallon by 2030, and nearly $1.50 per gallon by 2035.” As the Southern California News Group opined, California officials refuse to level with the public about the real-world costs of their climate policies. For a state leadership so committed to democracy, you’d think they would be willing to allow a wide debate about these proposals in the Legislature rather than just drive them through a regulatory agency led by appointees. The vote is the obvious end point of Newsom’s previous mandates. “Newsom mandated California’s transition to 100% electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego, in a San Diego Union-Tribune column. “The problem is, everyday Californians don’t want battery car …. This isn’t about cleaner air or affordable energy; it’s about forcing us into submission. Rather than risk his authoritarian mandate failing, Newsom told his cronies at the air board to ‘up their game.’ Their plan? Make gas prices so high that Californians are forced into EVs.” The state’s approach is hypocritical and condescending. California leaders expressed upset at rising gas prices and led emergency-session show hearings that blamed oil companies. They passed a bill that looks like it does something, but could make the problem worse and certainly won’t fix anything. Then after their own policies led to a regulation that likely will raise gas prices by a lot, they are remarkably passive. It’s almost enough to turn one into a cynic. Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org. READ MORE: Californians Reject the Worst Initiatives Preview of California’s Initiative Frenzy Newsom’s Oil-Price Show Hearings The post State Officials Give Nod to Far Higher Gas Prices appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.