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The recent closure of two California refineries will force a regional squeeze on fuel supplies across the West Coast. Less refining capacity means tighter markets and higher wholesale prices for gasoline and diesel including Washington. That’s structural economics.
Just as the announcement came, I saw the spike. I paid $2.98 at Love’s and a week later $3.55 at the same station, and now the price is around $3.79. This is not a blend change; this is a reaction. Current estimates have California paying about $8.50 a gallon by summer due to supply demand.
The outcome is predictable: higher gasoline prices don’t just hit commuters; they boost the cost of transporting food, escalate delivery fees and raise the baseline cost of goods throughout the state.
Democrats would love to blame Trump; but it’s not his fault. This is a choice most of us never wanted but gave us one of the nation’s highest per-gallon state fuel tax rates. That choice dominates the spread between Washington’s pump prices and neighboring states, not just broad federal or global market factors.
Washington has a cap-and-trade system aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions statewide.
The Climate Commitment Act (CCA) added incremental cost to gasoline and diesel. Based on auction prices of greenhouse-gas allowances, compliance costs are adding roughly $0.34-$0.50 per gallon to gasoline (by some estimates) and more to diesel amounts that are real, measurable and not theoretical predictions.
I watched a video of the state board meeting in 2012 in the Tri-Cities, where the board was told the prediction was gas price consequence would be 45 cents by 2021. They were right.
This isn’t a hypothetical “tax that doesn’t matter.” Washington frequently sees retail gasoline prices higher than Oregon or Idaho. Starting in 2023 when cap-and-trade started imposing compliance on fuel suppliers, that cost was passed to consumers.
At 40 to 50 cents per gallon, filling up 15 times a year easily costs an extra $300 to $500 annually just because of the CCA. Gas prices feed through every corner of the economy, from freight costs to grocery delivery fees. These costs may not stop people in King County, but the hardest hit are rural communities who must travel farther to shop.
For families already squeezed by housing costs and inflation, these hidden policy-linked costs make the cost of living that much harder to balance.
The CCA isn’t a federal mandate, and the costs show up here in a way they simply don’t in many other states. That’s what makes this “hidden cost” unique to our state’s policy mix.
Washington is imposing real, immediate fuel costs on working families while offering only unproven long‑term climate gains.
The state has never clearly quantified those benefits, yet it continues to collect billions through programs with uncertain returns.
Climate leadership shouldn’t mean being the highest‑cost state to drive, ship food or run a small business.
It should mean practical, affordable solutions not policies that show up mainly as higher bills.
Ray Anderson
Ethel
