California’s gas-car phaseout brings turmoil to mom-and-pop gas stations
In this 2010 file photo, Jack Johnson displays a gas-electric hybrid car on his father’s showroom in L.A.
Photo: David McNew/Getty Images for Cadillac
Photo: David McNew/Getty Images for Cadillac
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In this 2010 file photo, Jack Johnson displays a gas-electric hybrid car on his father’s showroom in L.A.
Photo: David McNew/Getty Images for Cadillac
California’s gas-car phaseout brings turmoil to mom-and-pop gas stations
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LOS ANGELES — On the first business day of 2014, gas stations here began reporting that gas prices were dropping at least 10 cents a gallon. And while the price of gasoline was dropping at some stations, it was not falling at many gas stations.
The sudden, unexplained drop in gas prices was, it turns out, the work of a program orchestrated by the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, and the Natural Resources Defense Council to drive gas prices down across the state.
The program, which is called California’s fuel economy and fuel economy efficiency program, is meant to save gas, boost national fuel economy standards, and encourage more light trucks and gas-powered cars. The program includes an incentive program, called the California Fuel andhy efficiency Standards, that will charge gas stations that sell more than five gallons of gas per day on the average, $2.50 per gallon, or more, $1.75 per gallon, for selling their extra fuel.
The program, which is not mandatory, was supposed to start last year, but the state’s legislature, which had passed a bill to begin the program, passed a law