Don’t let the oil industry gaslight us about high prices at the pump

Climate policies are a familiar punching bag for the oil industry, which has spent many millions of dollars blocking progress at every turn. For decades, they’ve avoided accountability for the impact they have on our health, lands, waters, communities — and wallets. Being dependent on a polluting near-monopoly has real costs, but the oil industry continuously diverts attention with lies about the price of freeing ourselves from fossil fuels. Thanks to oil industry pressure, recent headlines blame climate laws for high gas prices, but that’s simply not the root cause. 

What isn’t in these headlines is the continued rise of oil company profits. Put simply, the oil industry has a stronghold on our transportation choices, meaning they can bring in massive profits by charging high prices that cause harm to working people who don’t have other options.

Last year, while Washingtonians dealt with exorbitant fuel prices, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and others brought in record profits — over $200 billion combined. Moreover, Washington is consistently one of the most profitable states in the country for the oil industry — at the end of 2022, for every gallon of gas at the pump, fuel retailers pulled a margin of 85.6 cents on top of profits embedded in the price from refiners and producers. The oil industry blames climate policy for high prices, but if they truly cared about affordable fuel, they simply would not pass compliance costs onto customers — given these exorbitant profits, they don’t need to.

The backdrop of these rising fuel costs — and oil profits — is the emergence of a smoke season and more deadly heat waves. While Washingtonians bear the costs of the climate crisis, the fossil fuel industry continues to rake in more and more money.

The oil industry has been quick to place blame on climate policies because they’re scared: Their stronghold on our transportation system is weakening. In Washington, they are starting to be held accountable with the recently implemented Climate Commitment Act. With oil companies finally being required to pay their fair share for the climate crisis they’ve knowingly contributed to, affected individuals will start to see relief. The oil industry pays the bill for their pollution, and we benefit from investments that provide more options for cleaner, cheaper and more comfortable ways of getting around. 

Of course the oil industry is trying to stop this transition to a sustainable future — these investments are our pathway away from fossil fuel dependence, and are a direct threat to their profits. That’s why they’ve dumped tens of millions of dollars into faux grassroots campaigns and extensive lobbying efforts against climate policies nationally and in Olympia each legislative session. Since February of last year, the oil industry has spent over $1.5 million dollars running a front group, Affordable Fuel Washington, which is running ads claiming climate policies are to blame for high gas prices. This is literally the industry playbook: A leaked 2014 PowerPoint demonstrated their plans to create and fund “astroturf” groups in Washington, Oregon and California to express fake concern about gas prices and fight climate policy. The irony here is that the high prices we pay at the gas pump fund these activities. Really, the oil industry doesn’t care about high gas prices at all — in fact, they love them!

Washingtonians deserve better. We need more information on what goes into the price at the pump and how much the oil industry generates in profit. California just passed legislation to provide transparency and prevent price-gouging from the oil industry, and so should Washington. We can and should demand better consumer protections alongside our progress toward a clean future: something the Legislature should pursue.