The station Cervantes pumped at charged people paying with a credit card $6.59 a gallon for regular unleaded. One gas station in LA reached $8.71 a gallon.<\/a><\/p>\n With its average gas prices surpassing $6 a gallon as of Thursday, California stood out from the rest of the U.S. on AAA\u2019s map outlining the country\u2019s fuel prices.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest driver of the high price of gasoline right now is the war,\u201d said Severin Borenstein<\/a>, a professor of business administration and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main reason gas costs so much is oil costs so much,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery $1 per barrel increase in the price of crude oil [on average] translates to two-and-a-half cents at the pump.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s major response to bombing by the U.S. and Israel has been to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, through which about 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil passes<\/a>. That\u2019s the biggest driver of the steeply increasing prices at the pump.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has raised prices in the world oil market, and that\u2019s affecting everyone,\u201d Borenstein said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In terms of energy, the war in Iran has cost Americans more than $29 billion and counting<\/a> since Feb. 28, according to data from the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you tell me when the war is going to be over,\u201d Borenstein said, \u201cI can tell you when the price is going to go down.\u201d<\/p>\n Alfred Estrella wasn\u2019t happy to hear that.<\/p>\n The 43-year-old pulled up after Cervantes to the LA gas station at the corner of South Sepulveda Blvd. and West 76th St.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is crazy,\u201d said Estrella, after seeing the $6.49 price. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like that yesterday. Not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n Estrella, who works in dialysis and typically fills up there, drives about 85 miles round trip on his work days. The cost of his commute adds up quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Drivers are dropping $70, sometimes more than $80 dollars, to fill all the way up at the station.\u00a0<\/p>\n For environmental groups, the latest headaches over gas prices have only brought to the forefront what they call the country\u2019s outsized reliance on fossil fuels and impacts of broader decisions from the Trump administration to hinder shifts toward clean energy alternatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Californians already paying some of the highest gas prices in the country, this administration is making the problem worse by making electric vehicles harder to afford, shutting down offshore wind projects that could bring cheap clean power and good union jobs to California\u2019s coast, and helping fossil fuel companies expand [liquefied natural gas] terminals so domestic oil and gas can be shipped overseas for higher profits,\u201d Miguel Miguel, director of the nonprofit Sierra Club California<\/a>, said Thursday.<\/p>\n Labor unions, including the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which represents more than 450,000 workers, say that the cost increases point to the problem with relying on fuel from overseas.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The war \u201cand the scarcity it is creating, and the resulting escalating fuel costs, should encourage support of in-state production until we are no longer dependent on fossil fuels,\u201d said council president Chris Hannan in a statement.<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\n But UC Berkeley\u2019s Borenstein said the state\u2019s high gas prices can\u2019t solely be blamed on the war.<\/p>\n He outlined a variety of reasons the price of gas has been high historically in California,\u00a0 including an excise tax<\/a> higher than those in most other parts of the U.S., state environmental fees for its cap-and-trade program<\/a> for greenhouse gas emissions and the state\u2019s use of cleaner-burning gasoline.\u00a0 An explainer on his institute\u2019s website<\/a> details one more reason: a \u201cmystery gasoline surcharge\u201d that began in 2015, over which the state launched an investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Mono County, which has the highest average gas prices of any county in California, the price on Friday was $6.97 a gallon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s been getting some press lately,\u201d said Jennifer Kreitz, a Mono County supervisor. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the local culture. Almost like, this is what we deal with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mono County is governed by a five-member board of supervisors who can do little about gas prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not something we can dabble in,\u201d Kreitz said, noting that a nearby gas station in the county had recently reached $7.19 a gallon. \u201cThat\u2019s bigger than our policies, bigger than our purses.\u201d<\/p>\n Gas prices there are likely distinctly high because the county\u2014which stretches over more than 3,000 square miles between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Nevada border\u2014is rural, with a population of just about 13,000 people<\/a>. Less gas sells per pump there, experts and officials said.<\/p>\n Kreitz, getting in her car for a trip, said locals know the drill by now.<\/p>\n \u201cFill up in Nevada before you come home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.<\/p>\n Thank you,<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t![\"Veronica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ARV00473-2-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
![\"Veronica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ARV00473-2-1024x683.jpg\")
Veronica Cervantes, 54, of Compton, fills up her car at a Los Angeles gas station on April 30, 2026. She is one of many Californians dealing with skyrocketing gas prices that have continued to surge during the war in Iran. Credit: Steven Rodas\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Steven-Rodas-300x300.jpg\"\/)
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