Campaign Launches to let Gov. Brown Know California Motorists are ‘Fed Up at the Pump’

Against the backdrop of a 45-foot semi-truck with bold, capital letters screaming, "BACK OFF!," a group of passionate small business owners, advocates and consumers launched the Fed Up at the Pump campaign, a grassroots effort to educate and inform California motorists about a state-mandated gas and fuel price hike coming in 2015, at a press event on Friday, May 23. 

 

To kick off Memorial Day Weekend, the traditional beginning of the holiday driving season, more than 30 Fed Up at the Pump coalition members gathered as a unified voice at 3B’s Truck and Auto Plaza in Lodi to warn California motorists and Central Valley working families about a permanent gas price hike headed their way. Slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2015, a new regulation from the Air Resources Board will cause gas and diesel prices to rise at least 15 cents per gallon.

At the launch event, Ron Van De Pol, President of Van De Pol Enterprises, Inc., Betty Plowman from California Construction Trucking Association, Bruce Blodgett from the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau and Senator Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) all spoke about the devastating impact this fee will have on small businesses, agriculture commodities and consumers in California, particularly the Central Valley. Also in attendance were local newspaper reporters and TV stations to cover the event. 

"California needs to find a way to address global warming and climate change in a way that doesn’t hurt those who are already struggling to get by," said Van De Pol. "When gas prices go up on New Year’s Day my customers need to know it’s because of a state tax that our Governor wanted to slip past them without their knowledge." 

"We have about 350 commodities our farmers grow in this county that are trucked to distribution centers, and then trucked to grocery stores," Blodgett said. "Every one of these steps taken to transport agricultural products to residents will be hit."

"We’re already suffering in the Central Valley because of the (ongoing) drought," Senator Vidak said. "We’re still feeling the effects of the Great Recession, and we have high numbers of unemployment — at least in my district. This is another hit to our wallet that we don’t need."

The goal of the Fed Up at the Pump campaign is to put a stop to this hidden, regressive gas fee – created by the California Air Resources Board as part of its "Fuels Under the Cap" regulations (AB 32) – before it goes into effect because it will disproportionately affect lower-income Californians and there is no guarantee the expected $2 Billion generated in the first year will go to programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, some lawmakers have already introduced legislation to spend those funds on High Speed Rail and affordable housing. 

The campaign will encourage calls-to-action to halt the January gas price hike before it damages California’s fragile economy and hurts millions of hard working Californians even more. The campaign will be allow consumers to send letters to the Governor through a text message campaign that will be advertised at independent service stations through the Central Valley. The campaign will employ radio and online advertising, social networking and media to reach millions of Californians to ask them to tell the Governor to "Back Off."  

For more information or to read the news coverage from the event, please visit www.FedUpAtThePump.org