California’s gasoline costs are close to document highs, even after easing barely in the previous few days. And the craziest factor is that Hawaii pays much less per gallon.
California’s common value Tuesday, Oct. 20, for a gallon of common unleaded gasoline was $6.14. The nationwide common was $4.30. And Hawaiians paid $5.63 per gallon, on common.
Customers pump gasoline at a Shell gasoline station on Sepulveda and Venice as costs skyrocket in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
A Shell gasoline station is seen on Pico Blvd and La Cienega Blvd as costs skyrocket in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
Customers pump gasoline at a Shell station on Pico and La Cienega as costs skyrocket in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
That’s 51 cents cheaper, per gallon, than in California.
There is no pure rationalization. Gas should not be more costly in California than in Hawaii.
As The California Post has reported, Hawaii has greater power prices than California — and understandably so, because it has no oil or pure gasoline of its own and must rely on imported fossil fuels. Solar power can not make up the hole.
California, at least, has some home fossil gasoline manufacturing, as effectively as hydroelectric energy from dams. Democrats’ inexperienced mandates still make power far too costly in California, though.
The reality is that California has chosen to become an island, in power phrases. It has lower itself off from close by pipelines. It makes use of a gasoline mix that applies stricter environmental requirements, so it can not import gasoline from other states. And California’s state authorities has pushed refineries out of enterprise, so California refines very little of its own gasoline.
An indication shows gasoline costs at a Hele gasoline station, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mengshin Lin for CA Post
Customers pump gasoline at a Shell gasoline station on Pico Blvd. as costs rise in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
Abraham Martin, a taxi driver for 15 years, pumps gasoline at a Hele gasoline station, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mengshin Lin for CA Post
Add to that a greenback per gallon in taxes, and $0.26 per gallon in local weather change prices through the cap-and-trade system — oops, “cap-and-invest” — and it is clear that California pays more for gasoline by selection.
Yes, the Iran struggle has pushed up gasoline costs, particularly for diesel, because Iran has defended its tyrannical regime and its apocalyptic nuclear program by attempting to choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and by firing missiles at refineries in noncombatant international locations.
But that impacts every state, and does not clarify why California still pays more than Hawaii — and the relaxation of the nation.
It is virtually unimaginable that, in power phrases, California would be more remoted than a small archipelago in the center of the huge Pacific Ocean.
But that is how excessive California’s inexperienced insurance policies are. As gasoline costs flirt with document highs, even nearing the degree once portrayed in a horror film several a long time in the past, California’s “leaders” still refuse to cut back astronomical gasoline taxes or rethink their expensive inexperienced ideology.
California voters should contemplate whether they actually need more of the same.
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