What is happening with gas prices? Check out the national map

[mnhtnbb]

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

I am amazed to see the high prices along the entire west coast.

Has there been pipeline disruption?

I was in DC on Wednesday to see Kathleen Turner in "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins".
It was superb. Driving home to Chapel Hill, I filled up with $3.80/gal for premium--which was about $.32
LESS per gallon than I had paid earlier in the week in anticipation of the drive from NC to DC.

Am I missing something regarding oil distribution that's been in the news?

[ButterflyBlood]

1. California's gas has to be a special blend that's sold only in California

And it goes on a seasonal pattern, resulting in some shortages now.

[mnhtnbb]

5. CA gas has always been on the high side, but what about Oregon and Washington?

[FarCenter]

17. Oregon has zero refineries, depends on refineries in WA and CA

[Tikki]

35. Why you'll see so many hybrids, electrics and cars with good mpg on California roads...

Tikki

[Frustratedlady]

2. There was a refinery or something that went down and gas shot up to $5/gal.

We are at $3.65.

[2on2u]

11. I'd bet the exports didn't slow down a bit. n/t

[seabeyond]

15. i think ours was 3.85 yesterday. thought a bit high... but then heard about calif. nt

[Indpndnt]

24. For Texas, that IS high.

Here in Centex, it was $3.37 or so.

[seabeyond]

30. ours always seems high for this area. hubby told me a reason.

might have been 3.65. i was trying to remember and asked son. seemed like a week ago 3.65 though, and up to 3.85

[underpants]

22. just as the oil companies like it

the shut down in refineries have not been from the EPA they have been from our domestic oil companies. That is their main control on the spigot.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

3. ...

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-gas-price-record-20121006,0,3160717.story

[mnhtnbb]

6. This still doesn't explain prices in Oregon and Washington.

[Indpndnt]

26. Depends on where they get their gas. Or if 'their' gas is being diverted to Calif.

After being refined for Calif's req.

OR they're just taking advantage of higher prices on the coast and raising their own accordingly.

[hollysmom]

4. There was a fire in a California refinery a few weeks ago. n/t

[brewens]

7. Because they CAN! I don't believe any of the reasons for it. Kind of like Republicans don't

believe the job numbers. The only difference is that they are wrong and as usual, I am right!

[villager]

8. "Because they can," pretty much nails it. Gas never "shot up" in past decades due to

...refinery problems, but they know the public won't resist, and the government will do nothing, so every alleged "disruption" means more billions for the bottom line....

[MANative]

9. We had a big 25-cent overnight spike here in CT about two weeks ago.

It stayed at that level (about $4.25/gal) for two weeks, and dropped down to about $4.10/gal in the last day or two. Still too damned high. Blame it all on the Koch brothers and their oil/gas speculation model, instituted around 2005. Bastards.

[skeewee08]

10. In Oklahoma earlier in the week

We were $3.55 now $3.33

[Indpndnt]

23. Texas, too.

Very surprised it went down 6 cents from one refill to the next!

[TeamPooka]

12. Big Oil is trying to buy the election for Romney. nt

[mnhtnbb]

20. See, I resisted that idea...probably would have had the OP pulled as 'conspiracy theory'.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

28. Exactly!

[former9thward]

36. Big oil is trying to switch California?

Try another theory. Gas prices are going down elsewhere in the country. Is big oil trying to buy the election for Obama your next theory?

[WiffenPoof]

13. In CA - gas is now $4.65/Gal....n/t

[marions ghost]

14. punish the blue voting states?

ease up on the south and southeast?

[itsrobert]

16. I just got on the vanpool on my 60 mile commute (120 roundtrip)

in the nick of time.

(Southern California)

[mnhtnbb]

21. Ouch! Good going!

[pinboy3niner]

18. A Torrance refinery shut down by a power outage last Mon. came back online Fri.

Story posted in CA Group:

AP: Calif. gas prices will rise, then fall next week
http://news.yahoo.com/calif-gas-prices-rise-then-fall-next-week-082247664.html

[winstars]

19. As a Redondo Beach resident, I must exclaim: "Hey, that refinery is actually over in Torrance"...

Sort of a riff on the 'not in my back yard' I guess. It's close enough though, its a big, spewing real refinery right in the middle of lots of people nearby.

The scum oil companies just don't wanna refine enough gas so they can keep prices always high and to occasionally REALLY rip us off, like right now, opposed to the regular screwing we get...

[pinboy3niner]

25. Oops! My mistake...

I'll edit to correct. I was flashing back to memories of fishing on the old pier at Redondo many years ago.

[winstars]

40. Wow! I was on that pier Saturday for the first time in ages with friends from out of town!!!

[pinboy3niner]

41. I spent a lot of time fishing there a long time ago

That was long before the storm knocked out the pier and it was rebuilt.

We'd fish for Halibut but kept hooking up Bonito, which was a nightmare because as soon as they got hooked they'd race back and forth, tangling everyone's lines.

When I finally got a Halibut, I was in heaven. It wasn't very big--just 13 pounds--but I was the hero of the pier. I had company for dinner that night, so I cleaned the fish and grabbed a simple recipe out of a cookbook for broiling it with onion, covered in breadcrumbs and dotted with butter. And I was the hero of my dinner party, because the Halibut came out magnifique.

Those days are long gone. At Santa Monica Pier a while back I talked to the bait shop owner, who said none of the piers get Halibut like they used to. And there are warnings about not eating fish caught close-in to the piers.

But I have good memories of fishing Redondo Pier. And they had a walk-up window at the beginning of the pier where you could get some halfway decent hot clam chowder on those cold days. Even though their coffee sucked.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

27. I paid $3.95 here in south FL on Thursday

[liberal N proud]

29. Those prices to the southeast look better than I was expecting

I will be driving through NC, SC and GA this week on the way to Florida.

[Skidmore]

31. This is one industry in which there should be no free market.

[Webster Green]

32. I've heard news reports placing part of the blame on the refinery fire in Richmond, CA

I paid $4.33 per gallon today at a Costco in Sonoma County. That is as cheap as I can find it here.

[DollarBillHines]

33. I don't know, but I have a great Kathleen Turner story.

And Molly was a dear friend of mine.

I am in the Bay Area and our gas prices are thru the roof.

[mnhtnbb]

38. I'd love to hear your Kathleen Turner story...and we had the pleasure of meeting Molly

once when she came to speak to a group of Dems when we lived in Lincoln, NE.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

34. $4.99 today at the cheapest gas station in my neighborhood, Arco

The others are over $5.

[kelliekat44]

37. Exp the A.merican peorts are the reason. We could keep the oil home but that would mean the oil cos

would have to have a little less profit. You already know where their priorities lie and it isn't with the American people.

[spanone]

39. looks like california pissed someone off.....