🚀 go-pugleaf

On 21 Jun 1996 05:40:11 GMT, tomc@marconi.ih.att.com (T. S. Chomicz)
wrote:

>The California legislature recently mandated a new gasoline
>formulation.  When this requirement took effect, gas prices
>jumped approximately 20 cents a gallon overnight.
>(This increase was over and above the recent increases
>that the rest of the country was experiencing.)

Correction.  Gas prices began to climb in the last week of
February and topped out in the last week of April, with the
most dramatic increase in mid-April.  They've since gone
down a little, and now there is a differential between brand
and no-name gas stations of approximately the same
magnitude as in February (that is, 10-15 cents/gallon), which
indicates the ease of the supply/demand situation.

>In view of this, I do not think
>it would be unreasonable from a free-market perspective
>for the citizens of California
>to petition the legislature to remove or modify the
>requirements that it imposed.

Add to that a common-sense and auto safety perspective, too.
Chevron tests indicate that the reformulated gas increases the
occurrence of fuel system leaks in pre-1991 cars compared to
the old formulation. See

http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/bulletin/issues.html

for details.