Once upon a time, like 60 days ago, gasoline was 85 cents a gallon cheaper at the Maverik gas station on Airport Way in Manteca.

On Monday, it was $4.19 a gallon.

Any bets that it’ll hit $5 when spring is a month-old in Benicia?

That’s when Valero officially pulls its plug on its Benicia refinery that produces 9 percent of California’s gasoline.

Coupled with the Los Angeles Phillips refinery closure in October, one-fifth of the state’s refinery capacity will have vanished.

And what is Gov. Gavin Newsom doing about it?

He’s been in Munich taking about European security.

What about the financial security of millions of Californians in households impacted by gas prices where those earning paychecks to feed, shelter, and cloth have to commute significant distances?

Maybe Newsom can tell them he’s only “temporary” and that in 11 months he will no longer be governor of California.

Cynics might say Newsom has already left the building angling for his next job.

Not exactly true.

Newsom’s office, last month, triumphantly announced a solution to Valero’s decision to throw in the towel at trying to refine oil into gasoline in California — a state, whose governing structure is 100 percent committed to banishing gasoline-powered vehicles that means refineries are in Sacramento’s crosshairs for ultimate elimination.

The solution?

Valero will be importing refined gasoline from outside of California.

This means it will be likely be brought in by train or ship tankers for the time being since doing so by truck from places like Texas can be extremely costly, not to mention generate additional greenhouse gases.

Transporting oil greater distances clearly adds to the cost, not reduces it.

Granted, it is not as expensive as dumping hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade an aging oil refinery that Sacramento has made it clear it wants to put out of business within the next 20 years.

That said, the fallout of the Valero development Newsom celebrated Jan. 6 that it would import refined gasoline to California is likely a lot less of a seismic pricing event than a massive reduction in the gas supply.

Economic experts have been warning since Valero announced last year it would pull the plug on the Benicia refinery there was a good chance gasoline would reach $7 a gallon.

That would not be a good look on someone looking to move up the political ladder when the winning message is expected to be all about affordability.

Nothing reeks of affordability as gasoline costing $7 a gallon on Newsom’s watch.

That said, the odds are likely $5 a gallon gasoline could be a matter of months, or weeks away.

Forgetting the fact Maverik is a leader when it comes to low pump prices, consider state averages as provided by the American Automobile Association.

The average national price per gallon for gasoline nationally as of Sunday was $2.92.

For California, it was $4.59.

Is it a cheap shot to blame this all on Newsom?

Only to a degree.

Newsom has been at the helm of California for the last seven years leading up to this moment.

He has repeatedly used the oil companies as political punching bags.

There may not be a lot of warm and fuzzy things to say about oil firms but they also are not the ones that:

uestablished “fines” — thinly veiled taxes — on the process required to refine gasoline even after it got to the point it couldn’t be done any cleaner.

umade political hay whenever a refinery closed to address workplace safety concerns, routine maintenance, and to switch between summer and winter blends — all mandated by the state.

umade it abundantly clear spending hundreds of millions in upgrading refineries was a losing proposition given Sacramento wants to ban all sales of new vehicles power by fossil fuel in California starting in the year 2035.

Of course, there is always more to the story.

Remember how Newsom and every “progressive” elected politician over the years have vowed there would never be any more oil pipelines such as the Keystone project in the United States?

You’ll never guess what is being proposed now.

The oil industry is talking up the Western Gateway Pipeline.

It’s a proposed 1,300-mile pipeline that would send oil from Borges, Texas into California.

What are the odds that they’d pursue such an endeavor unless someone high up the political food chain signaled they won’t work to block such a pipeline.

One shouldn’t say “no” to fuel pipelines.

They have been operating in California for years.

There’s one running through Manteca along the Union Pacific Railroad. It’s the same that threw a monkey wrench into installing traffic signals at Woodward and Atherton at the railroad crossing.

Another pipeline runs to a tank farm east of Tracy along Kasson Road at Interstate 5.

The odds no one would go bonkers about the Texas portion that has been proposed.

But what about the two segments in New Mexico and Arizona?

As for California, it would the Santa Fe Pacific West pipeline.

It would simply have to be reversed.

The real question is just how viable such a pipeline project would be in a world that greenhouse gas activists aren’t exactly a dying breed.

Such a pipeline may help stabilize gas prices in California and prevent paying the same price in 2027 for a gallon of gasoline that one paid in 1975 to fill a 15-gallon tank.

But it would be an immense betrayal to green activists.

California refineries pollute less than their counterparts in Texas.

In fact, Newsom takes great pride in bragging on the world stage that the Golden State has the most stringent oil refining standards on earth.

The work around may reduce air pollution from refineries in California with the Valero shutdown in Benicia, but it will increase it elsewhere by even more if Californians drive using gas that is refined in Texas.

Perhaps even more interesting is the fact Newsom’s buddy — or is that nemesis — by the name of Gov. Greg Abbott can brag Texas saved Californians from suffering even more pain at the pump.

Not only is Valero headquartered in San Antonio, but its closest refineries to California are in Texas.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com