This year gas prices in Maricopa County have risen to a new, California-like level sitting well above the national average.
“In Maricopa County and only in Maricopa County we require the use of a boutique gas blend that not even the EPA requires us to use,” said AZ House Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-District 3) “That is one of the reasons gas prices here are higher than they are in the rest of the state.”
It's a requirement that isolates Arizona's supply, especially when pipeline capacity shrinks.
"Instead of having one big Olympic pool of gasoline that anyone can use in the summer, Arizona politicians have said, 'No, we want our own small little pool of gasoline.' And that's problematic when things happen when pipelines don't have enough capacity," GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan said.
“I have a car and I fill up my tank just like everyone else. When that meter says it's 100 bucks, it hurts,” Kolodin said.
RELATED: Before you fill your tank, check prices at different stations in your area
Kolodin has pushed for action on the blend requirement. On Monday. the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Committee on Air Quality and Energy will meet to discuss rewriting the blend requirements to ease prices in Maricopa County.
It would be the first step before the change could even begin to make it to a vote. Even after approval, months of testing of new blends could be ahead.
“So you’re talking about a track that may take a year or longer before it has any effect on prices,” Kolodin said. “But given the pain we’re feeling now it’s time to get started.”
For more information on the meeting, including a link to watch it at 3 p.m., click here.
