Crescent City Councilors say they owe it to their constituents to discuss gas prices. Photo via Max Pixel | Creative Commons License

Though they haven’t affecting the city’s operation, Crescent City Councilors will discuss the recent increase in gas prices on Monday.

At the last meeting on March 7, Councilor Beau Smith acknowledged that while there probably isn’t much he and his colleagues can do, gas prices are becoming a real concern.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the state and what they’re going to do, but it’s coming down to where people are going to have to make some hard choices,” he said. “I think we owe it to our city residents to at least look at it.”

Gas prices in Del Norte County range from $5.29 a gallon at the Lucky 7 Fuel Mart in Smith River and $6.05 a gallon at Joe’s Chevron in Crescent City as of Friday, according to GasBuddy.

In his staff report for Monday’s meeting, City Manager Eric Wier broke down the driving factors behind gas prices. This includes refining costs and profits, distribution and marketing costs as well as profits and taxes. However, the primary factor is the price of crude oil, according to Wier’s report.

Citing the U.S. Energy Information Administration, crude oil prices are the “largest and most variable component of gas prices,” Wier stated.

“The pandemic resulted in decreased domestic production, which has yet to catch up to pre-pandemic levels,” Wier wrote. “The sanctions imposed on Russia (including the refusal to buy Russian crude oil) have created a higher global demand for crude oil as Russia is the second largest oil producer in the world (second only to the United States).”

Wier also cited several efforts to provide relief at the pump: Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed pause on the gas excise tax adjustment in July 2022 as well as tax rebates for taxpayers; Assembly Bill 1638, a proposed suspension of the state excise tax; and proposed legislation at the federal level to provide a temporary exemption through 2022 from the gas excise tax.

President Joe Biden also ordered the release of 50 million gallons of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the global market, Wier noted.

“It is important to note that excise taxes are imposed on gas suppliers and passed along to consumers as part of the retail price of gas,” Wier wrote. “If either the state or federal excise taxes are suspended, it is unknown how much of that savings will be passed along to consumers. For example, the price of crude oil dropped nearly $30 per barrel in one week, yet the prices at the pump do not reflect a similar decrease.”

According to Wier, though there isn't much the City Council could do about the price of crude oil, they could write letters of support for some of the legislation being considered.

“We can try to give credence to some of the actions being contemplated by state and federal officials,” he said.

The Crescent City Council meets at 6 p.m. Monday at the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City. Meetings are also available via Zoom.

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