April 30, 2025 [California Globe]- In 1988, the state of California only imported about 4.5% of all the oil that we consumed in our state. By 2020 we were importing over 70%.
California Democrats’ war on the oil and gas industry is working, but not for the people. In his latest about-face, pivot, flip flop, or career saving move, Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday directed state officials to increase efforts to guarantee reliable fuel supplies for the nation’s biggest auto market, prompting oil companies to blame state policies for difficult business conditions and high pump prices, Reuters reported.
Gov. Newsom has been agitating for some time against “Big Oil” and their “windfall profits,” but always leaves out his and Democrats’ important role in escalating oil and gas prices in California through regulations, surcharges, “clean-air” and “low carbon” programs, cap and trade and more schemes.
Remember this climate grift:
Gov. Newsom signed a package of “sweeping legislation” in September 2022 to achieve statewide carbon neutrality as soon as possible, and no later than 2045, by establishing an 85% emissions reduction target, capping oil wells, slowing oil and gas permitting, making it impossible to increase refining capacity, and entirely phasing out oil and gas starting in two years.
That “sweeping set of laws” Newsom touted was 40 new climate change bills regulating California businesses and its people.
In another blow to California’s oil and gas industry, and the state’s fuel supply, Valero Energy Corporation announced last week it will shut down its Benicia Refinery in April 2026.
This latest hit comes after Chevron Oil Company announced in August their corporate relocation to Houston Texas from the Bay Area, and Phillips 66 announced that its Los Angeles refinery will shut down by October 2025.
Add to that devastating news, Senate Bill 1137, which took effect on June 27, 2024, bans the construction of new oil wells and the maintenance or repair of existing wells within 3,200 feet of loosely defined “sensitive receptors,” potentially threatening to shut down energy resource infrastructure statewide.
Add to that, California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill in February to hold “Big Oil” responsible for natural disasters in California. You read that right – Senator Wiener is blaming the oil and gas industry for natural disasters, or disasters that should have been mitigated by the State of California – like wildfires. Sen. Wiener’s Senate Bill 222 would allow the state FAIR Plan, insurance companies, and individuals to sue oil and gas companies for wildfire damages.
Sponsoring Wiener’s bill is the the Rockefeller-backed Center for Climate Integrity, a Washington DC non-profit, which brags that they are “Exposing Big Oil’s Lies & Demanding Accountability.”
The oil and gas industry has taken one political hit after another with California’s Democrat Governor and Democrat supermajority in the State Legislature.
Gov. Newsom claims that the state’s highest-in-the-nation gas taxes and prices are not what cause dramatically spiking gas/oil prices but because of price gouging by the oil industry. In May 2024, Newsom even signed a gas price gouging law into place.
Gavin Newsom must be worried about his future if he suddenly cares about refinery output.
More from Reuters:
“Newsom’s letter to California Energy Commission Vice Chair Siva Gunda, dated April 21 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, came days after Valero’s announcement. The Benicia ‘refinery accounts for about 9% of the state’s crude oil refining capacity.
“I write to direct you to redouble the State’s efforts to work closely with refiners on short- and long-term planning, including through high-level, immediate engagement, to help ensure that Californians continue to have access to a safe, affordable, and reliable supply of transportation fuels,” Newsom wrote. He added that although gasoline demand in the state was in a gradual decline, it would exist for years to come.
What a weasel: Newsom blamed the Trump administration in his letter, saying they are responsible for economic instability and market turmoil that was harming oil companies.
“A refining trade group said that assertion was false, and instead blamed California.”
“Valero’s announcement that it will shut down its Benicia refinery in April 2026 is yet another blow to California’s already fragile fuel supply system,” the California Fuels & Convenience Alliance said last week. “The decision reflects the growing impact of California’s increasingly aggressive energy policies, which have made it more difficult for in-state refineries to continue operating. As a result, this closure will leave the state with just seven remaining in-state refineries capable of producing California’s uniquely formulated gasoline—a dangerously low number for a state of nearly 40 million residents.”
Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher weighed in on X: “Good morning CA: another gas refinery is closing and our prices will shoot up even more! Totally predictable and you can thank @GavinNewsom and the Democratic politicians for their flawed policies.”
So now that Gavin Newsom has created this mess, he’s directing the energy commission to do something to stop the refinery closures?
Gov. Gavin Newsom has been targeting the oil and gas industry with stifling state regulations, impossible laws like the 3,200 foot setback for oil wells, signing the gas price gouging law, and chasing Chevron out of the state.
As oil expert Dave Noerr told the Globe last year, “The growing difference between the price of crude oil and the retail cost of gas and diesel as well as the additional cost Californians pay compared to every bordering state and the rest of the U.S. is:
- The Sacramento surcharge
- The cost of California
- The growing of Government
- The Low Carbon Fuel Standard
- The Cap and Trade Program
- Vapor recycling requirements
- Data collection
- Air quality mandated equipment replacements”
Noerr added, “So California, the fact of the matter is, you are paying the same or less for the crude oil contained in a gallon of gas or diesel. You are just paying a lot more for government.”
