Gasoline averaging $6.13 a gallon in San Diego, May 5, 2026

Gasoline is averaging $6.13 a gallon in San Diego right now, May 5, 2026. Let's break down that per-gallon price. 

Drilling and extraction of crude oil: $1.35 per gallon.

Elevated shipping insurance rates due to Iran war: $0.30 per gallon.

Elevated cost of oil per barrel because of Iran war, due to supply & demand dynamics and fears about future supply: $0.80 per gallon.

California's Phillips and Valero refineries are now permanently shutdown due to a long list of regulatory and compliance burdens, maintenance costs, and a toxic legal and tax environment, making them unprofitable in the long term. This represents a loss of 17% of California's refining capacity in the last 6 months. There are 11 refineries remaining in the state but only 7 of those produce the gas that goes in your car. Those 7 refineries are now operating at 100% capacity, and without imports, we would have a 5-8% gasoline supply deficit. That means if California didn't import refined gasoline, we would run out of gas in 4-6 weeks. This adds a scarcity premium due to supply & demand dynamics, and it's highly sensitive to disruptions at the refineries: $0.94 per gallon.

Refinery's specialized union labor and engineers: $0.22 per gallon.

Refinery energy usage, with California among the highest industrial energy costs in the country: $0.14 per gallon.

Industrial catalysts, chemicals, and processing needed to refine oil to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) standard. The CARB standard is more stringent than the federal EPA standard and mandates the use of California Reformulated Gasoline, which burns cleaner, evaporates less, has less sulfur and benzene, no MTBE additive, and contains ethanol. The intention is to reduce smog and pollution. It also means California can't get gasoline from Arizona or Nevada because it doesn't meet the CARB standard and is illegal to sell here. CARB gas costs more to produce, and since only a handful of refineries mostly in California produce it, and they're running at 100% capacity, any disruptions at those refineries causes supply shocks and associated price hikes: $0.08 per gallon.

With no oil pipelines coming into California, and since we're unable to simply bring in gasoline from nearby states due to our CARB standard, we ship 75% of our crude oil from Alaska and overseas, and 20% of our CARB compliant gasoline as a finished product from refineries in India and South Korea. Those ships have to return empty. We don't get any oil or gasoline directly from the eastern US, for a multitude of reasons I don't have time to go into here. Ironically, the long shipping routes and less environmentally regulated refineries overseas actually cause more carbon emissions. So shipping cost: $0.18 per gallon.

Evaporative and other losses during the long ocean voyage: $0.01 per gallon.

Tanker insurance: $0.09 per gallon.

Port of San Diego offloading fees: $0.05 per gallon.

Fuel terminal storage and additive blending: $0.06 per gallon.

Trucking distribution to local gas stations: $0.08 per gallon.

California state fuel excise tax: $0.61 per gallon.

Federal fuel excise tax, unchanged since 1993: $0.18 per gallon.

California environmental monitoring of underground storage tanks at gas stations: $0.02 per gallon.

California carbon emissions cap and trade program, which requires fuel suppliers by law to buy enough carbon allowances from the California government to cover the carbon released when you burn your fuel. The intention here is to drive up fuel prices and make alternative fuels more competitive to reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, for various reasons, for example the heavier oil we're importing, our refineries now have a higher carbon footprint per gallon of gas produced. This requires them to buy more carbon allowances to remain legally compliant, and of course they pass on the cost of those carbon allowances to consumers: $0.25 per gallon.

California low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). This is a regulatory system to force oil companies to pay for the transition to renewable fuels. Think of it as a tax on the carbon density of a fuel. Oil companies are forced by law to buy LCFS credits from companies that produce alternative low carbon fuels such as electricity for electric vehicles, biodiesel, and hydrogen, to offset their LFCS deficit. The main difference from the cap and trade program is that the money goes directly to producers of clean fuels rather than the State: $0.22 per gallon.

San Diego sales tax: $0.11 per gallon.

Gas station payroll: $0.07 per gallon.

Gas station utilities and insurance: $0.06 per gallon.

Credit card fees at gas station: $0.18 per gallon.

Gas station profit. Yes the credit card companies are making more off a gallon of gas than the gas station: $0.13 per gallon.

Add all those numbers up and you get $6.13 a gallon.

Cost of Iran war: $1.10 per gallon. This is caused by Iran holding 20% of the world's oil supply hostage, because they insist they must build a swarm tactic of 10,000 drones and 10,000 missiles to overwhelm Israel's air defenses, so they can then send in their nukes. This number will come down as the Strait of Hormuz is reopened. 

Cost of State of California gas tax, scarcity premium, CARB gas regulations, carbon emissions programs, and the logistics of shipping oil and CARB-grade gas across the world, not including San Diego sales tax, port fees, storage, and other fixed costs... Before you see this number, consider that California only produces about 0.8% of global carbon emissions, and much of our carbon emissions programs are offset by long shipping routes and less regulated refining overseas: $2.39 per gallon. 

Trump conspiracy theories

The leftie conspiracy theories about Trump are hilarious. One is that he's a pedophile, with no evidence of course, other than a few mentally ill or politically motivated calls to FBI that never checked out. Not one credible Epstein accuser has accused Trump of any wrongdoing. Yet I see this claim made repeatedly on social media, often with Ai-generated fake images that have been thoroughly debunked. The lefties have been saying "He's going to jail" for literally a decade and now this pedophile conspiracy theroy is their last vain hope.

Now of course there's the theory that the Iran war is simply to distract people from the Epstein files. Yeah, 47 years of Iran terrorism and chanting "Death to Israel! Death to America!" and trying to build a nuke to hold the world hostage, and it's all a distraction from the Epstein files. These things make me want to slap my forehead repeatedly in frustration.

Another theory says Elon Musk used his Starlink satellites to flip, upload, or cancel votes in favor of Trump. Voting systems aren't even connected to the internet for exactly that reason.

Another theory says the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt was staged to improve his image. Never mind that someone in the crowd and the shooter were killed.

Then there are the various  claims that he's going to create a pregnancy register for women, eliminate FEMA, or cancel all elections, more forehead slapping material.

Then of course there was the Russian pee tape from his first term. What ever happened to the term "Putin's puppet"? Is he a dictator king or a puppet, make up your mind.

And don't forget the two year investigation into supposed collusion between the Russian election meddlers and the Trump campaign. After two years, no evidence was found of a channel of communication between the two in which they could coordinate their actions, yet people still believe it, and if I call out their BS they claim I didn't read the Mueller Report, which is more forehead slapping material that makes me want to move to China for less propaganda.

Also remember Jan 20, 2025 when the media cherry-picked a single frame from a video and claimed Elon Musk did a Nazi salute, and then people went around painting and scratching swastikas on Teslas, vandalizing and fire bombing Tesla dealerships and chargers? What kind of people paint swastikas on things to intimidate people, Nazis perhaps? The people who believe these things are the low functioning people of society, the leftie version of QAnon believers, the people with eyebrow ridges and sloping foreheads who contribute the least to society, and they're allowed to vote.

And don't forget that Trump is a mysoginist who doesn't like strong willed women, and he's going to turn the country into a real life version of The Handmaid's Tale. This is invariably from people who've never read the book "The Handmaid's Tale", I have. Never mind that he has 9 women in his cabinet, well 7 now without Noem and Bondi, almost as many as Biden, who was as sharp as a tack and ready to serve another term.

-Dave Badperson

The Deranged Response to Operation Epic Fury

Just look on X and you will see the reactions of many Democrat politicians first hand. While the people of Iran celebrate in the streets, these politicians oppose taking out the Iranian regime, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, who have chanted "Death to Israel! Death to America!" for decades, who have directly or indirectly killed hundreds of Americans and thousands of Israelis, who have shot and executed by hanging tens of thousands of their own people who recently protested against them, who have oppressed their own people, particularly women, with a backwards religious dictatorship for 47 years. They oppose it not because it was the wrong thing to do, but simply because Trump did it. And they're going to be stuck with it, right as we head into the midterm elections. The same can be said for liberals in America who are currently protesting or whining about it on social media. You might even say they're evil people to support the Iranian regime, but probably they're just completely out of touch, and out of their minds, simply because of their hatred for Trump.

-Dave Badperson