Here we go again! Prices are spiking at the pump. However this time, as the article says, it has nothing to do with the price of crude oil, which continues to decline. These temporary California refinery production interruptions have no immediate effect on the cost of a gallon of gas either already stored in a gas station’s underground wells or gas being transported to day from the major refiner/distributor to its branded retail outlets. No entity in the gasoline “food chain” has yet experienced any monetary hardship, except the consumer. These instantaneous soaring retail gas prices are clear, blatant “price gouging,” with no basis in fact. What other industry is allowed to operate its business model in such a manner? None.