Questioning oil industry propaganda ...

If you listen to Big Oil and the nightly news, you probably think that high gas prices are all your fault. For months, they've reported that "fuelish" consumers are using more gas than ever before.

As it turns out, these claims may be little more than oil lobbyist propaganda: In May, four prominent organizations backed UCAN's long-standing claim that gas consumption is down.

According to the California Board of Equalization (CBE), the Federal Highway Administration, the Department of Transportation, and others, consumers are using significantly less gasoline. And if anybody should know, it ought to be the CBE – they collect the taxes on every gallon sold in California. According to them, gas consumption has decreased by a whopping 2.5% even though there are more drivers on the road in California.

On Wednesday, June 14, CNN Money reported that outputs in refined gasoline in California dropped by a massive 10% (6.7% less than last year during the same week). Yet since June 14 through today, gas prices have tumbled from $3.20 a gallon to $3.13 a gallon. What's more, these are the lowest inventories since May 11 when San Diego gasoline prices had reached a record-breaking high of $3.48 a gallon.

What all this means is that the California Oil Cartel's claim that consumers keep buying gas no matter what the price is highly questionable. Supposedly, a 3% shortfall in supplies will create a 30¢ price spike, yet in the last week, we've seen a 10% reduction in the supply of gas and prices are still dropping.

This can only mean one thing: We are using less gas. A lot less gas.

But that won't stop the hot gas coming out of the oil industry's publicity and lobbying companies such as Western States Petroleum Association. For them, spewing hot gas to a gullible media is their number one job.

Read more on this subject at our Gas & Autos page, or visit our Cheap Gas Locator at www.fueltracker.com. Right now we are tracking more than 450 local prices every week. And if you appreciate the fact that somebody is finally telling you the truth about the oil industry, please consider joining UCAN.