California Gov. Gavin Newsom won\u2019t admit it, but a move by President Donald Trump is especially helpful to drivers in California \u2014 and Nevada.<\/p>\n
Gasoline prices are pressuring consumers around the country. This week, the average U.S. price was $4.26 a gallon<\/a>. In California, that would be a bargain.<\/p>\n The average there was $5.99 a gallon<\/a>. Nevada\u2019s average was $5.11 a gallon<\/a>, the result of around 88 percent of the state\u2019s gasoline coming from California<\/a>.<\/p>\n It might be getting worse \u2014 regardless of what happens in Iran.<\/p>\n In recent months, two major California refineries have shut down<\/a>. That represented a 17 percent reduction in California\u2019s refining capacity. Their closures weren\u2019t caused by the Iran war, but by Gov. Newsom and California\u2019s relentless attacks on fossil fuels<\/a>.<\/p>\n To make up for the fuel it won\u2019t extract or refine in-state, California depends on imports from foreign countries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are importing 30 percent of our crude oil from the Middle East,\u201d Mike Ariza, a former control board supervisor at the Valero Benicia Refinery, said in an interview. He has been warning the public about California\u2019s potential fuel shortage<\/a>. \u201cThere are not very many ships left on the way that have fuel,\u201d he said last month.<\/p>\n Last week, KCRA-TV in Sacramento reported that \u201cabout two million barrels of oil are in the process of being unloaded in Long Beach off of the last California-bound tanker that got through the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n At a California legislative hearing Tuesday, Siva Gunda, the vice chairman of the California Energy Commission, said the state has enough gasoline to accommodate demand for the next six weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a very long time, especially given that it takes weeks or months for oil to travel from the Middle East to California. And that process won\u2019t begin until the Strait of Hormuz reopens.<\/p>\n There is a region, however, with abundant oil available for sale and safe passage<\/a> \u2014 the southeastern United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Jones Act, an antiquated 1920 law, mandates that only U.S.-flagged ships may move cargo between U.S. ports.<\/p>\n