LA the First US City to Hit Average Gas Price of $6 per Gallon

Fuel costs continue to soar on the West Coast while they level off in the rest of the country.

Gas in Los Angeles hit a record high of $6.011 per gallon on Tuesday. It is the highest recorded average gas price for a major US city.

L.A. has achieved the distinction of becoming the first US city to pass $6 per gallon for gas on average, as soaring fuel costs continue to hammer West Coast drivers.

On Tuesday, the average for a gallon of regular gas in Los Angeles hit a record $6.011, even as the national average continued to decline slightly from the all-time high earlier this month, according to the AAA Gas Price Index.

Even as drivers elsewhere see moderate relief at the pump, California has continued to be hammered by rising gas prices, with the Golden State setting a new record-high average of $5.866 on Tuesday.

Experts at GasBuddy said that Tuesday’s prices in Los Angeles marked the first major US city to reach $6 gas.

California, which has strict regulations and higher-than-average state taxes on gas, tends to lead the nation in fuel prices.

That trend has continued in recent weeks, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted world oil markets. But even though the price of crude oil has fallen about $20 from its peak earlier this month, California gas prices have continued to rise.

Meanwhile, a new poll shows that most Americans blame President Joe Biden for the recent increase in gas prices, a troubling figure for Democrats ahead of the midterm election and a sign the administration’s drive to push the blame on Vladimir Putin isn’t working.

Roughly 39% in a new Emerson College poll said Biden was to blame for the pain at the pump, while 21% blamed the gas sanctions on Russia, 18% blamed gas companies, and 9% blamed supply chain issues.

The results show that approximately the same number of voters blame President Biden and the Russian sanctions and oil companies combined.

Biden and his administration has continually blamed the coronavirus pandemic and Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine for the high inflation.

‘Let’s be absolutely clear about why prices are high now are high for two reasons. One was COVID – the way the global economy works,’ he said in remarks to the National League of Cities last Monday.

‘Now a second big reason for inflation is Vladimir Putin,’ he noted. ‘Make no mistake – the current spiking gas prices largely the fault of Vladimir Putin.