I was watching the news about the refinery fire and noticed the gas prices started to go up the same day. They said the refinery only supplies 16% of the gas for California so why does the price go up everywhere right away? The service stations raised the prices on gas they already had paid for and in their tanks, so are they the ripoff artist? Doesn’t the refinery have gas in reserve? This gas price fiasco has been going on for years and the government of California will not build new refineries or let anyone drill for oil and they never will because they are just plain stupid. We have the technology today to make this safe for the people and environment. The government creates a new department each time something happens but if they did their jobs in the first place this accident wouldn’t of happened. All our refineries are old and we need new ones and more. As I look at everything that happens on gas prices, the government and oil companies and service stations fit the bill perfectly as the ripoff artists. As always the people pay for their stupidity.

-- Richard Mullikin - Atascadero