California has some of the highest gasoline prices in the country – about $1.47 per gallon higher than the national average as of Tuesday. State officials have been grappling with how to continue transitioning away from fossil fuels without making drivers who don’t have electric cars pay exorbitant gasoline prices. The closures threatened to make California’s high gasoline prices even higher. “It’s important to keep gasoline prices stable as we phase out gasoline,” Barad said. Julie Johnson is a staff writer covering wildfires, electricity prices, oil refineries and the North Coast of California for the Chronicle.