In mid-March — as a freakish early heat wave hit the West and the price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed toward nearly $6 — Californians endured the consequences of a problem that has long dogged the state: dependence on climate-warming oil priced by the global market.
A record amount of imported gasoline arrived by the end of the month, cooling prices a bit. Much of it had shipped before the Iran War disrupted global supplies. But prices will likely stay high simply because the supply is so low; the average price on April 15 was 30 cents higher than a month earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.
