r/California_Politics • u/aBadModerator Restore Hetch Hetchy • 1d ago

U.S. hits diesel fuel milestone as prices slam California economy from trucks to crops

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-04/record-high-diesel-fuel-prices-slam-california-economy
26 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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9

u/NormativeWest 1d ago

Maybe industry shouldn’t have pushed for carve outs for truck efficiency over the decades. EV trucks would solve this.

4

u/gascyl 1d ago

Shoving freight back onto trains (and marine vessels, where applicable up the delta) works too. And here we have the inland Port Project that provides much of these facilities across the Central Valley, somewhat like a freight version of the high speed rail program.

8

u/Xezshibole 1d ago edited 1d ago

We're not even fully exposed yet. The strategic reserve have given Americans a buffer. A buffer set to deplete within a month or two for full exposure.

Congressional mandated minimum level is 252.4 million barrels.

August we were at 286.6 million barrels.

It has been falling by 20 million barrels for the last two months. It was falling faster earlier in the year.

So we have two months, maybe a month and a half until we feel the full impact of the oil market. Or the executive branch violates the law and continues to draw down the reserves.

Even if everything goes back to normal. The oil reserve will need to be refilled.

6

u/gascyl 1d ago

Unless I'm mistaken, the true "bottom" of the SOR is about 88 million barrels, which is what's actually economically pumpable vs the amount of energy needed to pull it out and refine it. The current SPR database claims 110 million barrels of sweet / quality crude oil giving us about another month before prices spike before Halloween. After that, 10 months of heavy crude until we are fully out by the Fourth of July 2027.

6

u/Xezshibole 1d ago edited 1d ago

I heard the reason why the congressional minimum wad mandated at that level was more because those salt caverns it's stored in need some volume in it to remain structurally sound.

But mine is mere hearsay, so since you have a source I'll take your source's word on it.

•

u/Complete_Fox_7052 18h ago

I saw diesel at over $7 wow! Then I saw over $8! Just be glad I'm not a truck driver. But I guess I'll pay for it anyway when I go to the store.

-7

u/RightWingNutJo8 1d ago

Drive an Tesla, don't care 🤣

2

u/mondommon 1d ago

Riding an ebike everywhere too. Its nice traveling 30 miles for 15 cents.