Not sure which link you refer to, but all mass media explanations I’ve seen are incomplete at best. Here’s an old example:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/business/gas-prices-rising.html

Arguably the biggest two drivers are 1) higher taxes and 2) the west coast has very aggressive regulations that hit in two ways - both not enough refinery capacity is allowed to be built and operated in the first place constraining supply and also making it very costly to refine gas for the west coast as they have different refining requirements versus the rest of the country. So government actions drive most or all of the regional difference in price.