Oil Watchdog

Poll shows most resigned to prices climbing

The Stockton Record
By Hank Shaw, Capitol Bureau Chief
April 15, 2007

SACRAMENTO – Californians are still upset with high gas prices but appear to be growing accustomed to them, according to a Field Poll released Monday.

Just about the same percentage of California voters think gas prices are a serious problem now as in August 2005, when prices broke the $2 barrier. Now gasoline is solidly above $3 a gallon; it has climbed beyond $4 a gallon in some parts of the Bay Area.

Poll director Mark DiCamillo said he was surprised that public outrage was not higher when he surveyed 570 registered voters on the topic last month.

"People must have gotten somewhat accustomed to the $2 rate, so $3 hit them the same as going to $2 in 2005," DiCamillo said. "There’s something going on here."

The young and the poor – two groups that often overlap – are hurting the most, according to the poll.

Nara Nor, 23, paid $3.36 a gallon to fill up her Honda Civic in Stockton on Monday. Gas prices got so high she sold her GMC Denali sport utility vehicle, because it was costing her $80 to fill the tank. She already brings her lunch to work instead of buying it; Nor said that if gas gets too much more expensive, she’ll have to find other ways to cut back.

"Maybe I’ll just stay home," she said.

Nearly two-thirds of households earning less than $40,000 a year say they have cut back on dining out, groceries or clothes shopping because of high fuel prices. That’s nearly 40 percent of households in San Joaquin County, according to federal statistics.

Additionally, about half of respondents younger than 39 or in households earning between $40,000 and $80,000 say they have reduced their spending, too.

It’s easy to see why: Filling a 15-gallon tank in August 2005, when prices hit $2 a gallon, cost $30. Now, with average prices at $3.30, the same driver is shelling out $49.50.

Cheaper gas can still be had, typically at discount stations such as Arco, where prices ranged from $3.15 a gallon in Tracy to $3.25 in Lodi on Monday. But Arco doesn’t take credit cards.

People surveyed in the Field Poll blame the oil companies for their woes. Two-thirds of all respondents said the industry, which is making record profits, is mostly to blame for the increase. Seven in 10 also think the Bush administration bears at least some responsibility as well.

Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service said prices probably won’t fall anytime soon.

"The West Coast is its own animal," Kloza said. "The West Coast has much lower production at the moment than it had last year and significantly higher demand. … The West Coast is going to be the most-compromised market, not just for the rest of this year but for the rest of the decade."

Judy Dugan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights wants California lawmakers to regulate refinery production and gasoline supplies in storage, which she says would smooth out price spikes.

"Oil companies built this system to keep supplies tight," Dugan said. "They know they will reap ever-higher overall profits without having to make or sell more gasoline. With only a handful of companies making most of the refined gasoline in California, they don’t compete, they cooperate. The usual laws of supply and demand are broken."

Contact Capitol Bureau Chief Hank Shaw at (916) 441-4078 or [email protected]. Visit his blog.