Central Coast congressman on rising gas prices: ‘There’s a cost to standing up to bullies’

As of Thursday, San Luis Obispo County residents are paying an average of $5.73 for a gallon of regular gas — a record-high price that just keeps going up with virtually no end in sight.

Though the region does have some characteristics that make it prone to higher-than-average gas prices, much of the latest increase is due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives formalized President Joe Biden’s ban on the import of Russian oil and gas, which legislators said was a key source of revenue for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort.

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, told The Tribune the sanctions are meant to send a clear message to Putin that his unprovoked attack on Ukraine will not be tolerated.

“It’s in solidarity with the free world, our NATO allies and European allies,” Carbajal said in a phone interview ahead of the vote Wednesday afternoon. “We are exacting the harshest sanctions that we could implement against Putin and Russia to get him to retreat and understand that he miscalculated this aggression.”

In the meantime, Central Coast residents will likely feel some burden of the sanctions on their own wallets as fuel prices reflect the uncertainty in the global market.

For that, Carbajal just urged patience.

“I think we need to remind the American people and Central Coast residents that oil prices are going up in great part due to Putin’s aggression against Ukraine,” he said. “The fact that we are now going to cut off the supply that we used to purchase from — there’s a cost to standing up to bullies and this autocratic individual. So we’re going to be asking the American public to be patient.”

Carbajal added that U.S. leaders are “taking actions with our partners throughout the world to implement an oil production strategy that will help us stabilize the oil markets” while President Biden also dips into strategic petroleum reserves to help stabilize national gas prices.

He also noted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement that he was developing a gas tax rebate plan to help Californians cope with risings costs at the pump.

Though the pain on local wallets is difficult now, Carbajal said this was the price for confronting aggression overseas without escalating into a full-out military conflict.

“Ultimately we are trying to de-escalate this war, get Putin to retreat,” he said. “What we don’t want to do is send American men and women boots on the ground to Ukraine.”

Central Coast congressman supports $13.6 billion aid package for Ukraine

The U.S. House of Representatives also passed a separate federal spending package Wednesday that promises $13.6 billion in humanitarian, economic and security assistance to Ukraine.

This includes more than $4 billion for emergency food aid, health care and other humanitarian support for Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion, according to a news release from Carbajal’s office.

“The United States, with our allies, are doing everything possible to support Ukraine in in addressing the humanitarian crisis that they are experiencing today,” Carbajal told The Tribune.

Carbajal said the funding would also help supply military equipment and municipal munitions to Ukraine to “help them resist and thwart the Russian invasion.” It would also help support the more than 100,000 American troops in Europe as some are re-positioned against the eastern NATO borders.

“(The strategy is) to one, be ready to continue to support Ukraine, but to also send a message to Putin that it’s bad enough that he is — in an unprovoked fashion — invading Ukraine, but to not even think about continuing the invasion in Ukraine and beyond the Ukrainian borders as well,” Carbajal said.

The package is expected to become law over the course of the next week.