I realize that for whatever reason, the “climate change, global warming emergency” no longer seems to be in the headlines anywhere except in California. In California the climate change, global warming emergency is the prime force that has taken over the minds of the governor and the wackos in Sacramento.
From Red State:
Only a week or so ago Phillips 66 announced they were going to close down their 100-year-old refinery outside of Los Angeles.
This was blamed on Gov. Gavin Newsom and the CA legislature’s hostile climate for any fossil fuel-related business operating in the state.
Meanwhile, energy company Valero has been signaling for over six months that it was seriously considering shuttering two of its California refineries. The first word of their intentions came last October.
Little more was heard from Valero until a few weeks ago, and only then because they made it official – their company was closing the San Francisco area Benicia refinery in 2026.
Valero CEO Lane Riggs cited challenging regulatory and enforcement environment for the decision to cease operations.
Valero dropped its bombshell April 16 announcement roughly six months after regional and state air regulators fined the company a record $82 million for secretly exceeding toxic emissions standards for at least 15 years. And last month, city leaders voted unanimously to impose moderate new safety regulations on the facility.
In September 2023, Newsom’s administration filed a lawsuit targeting the oil industry for “lying to consumers for more than 50 years” about climate change. He signed into law a bill seeking to hold Chevron and other refiners liable for allegedly price-gouging consumers. California bill SB X1-2 authorizes the state energy commission to determine an acceptable profit margin for in-state refiners and penalize those that exceed it. More recently, bill AB X2-1 has mandated increased reporting requirements by the state’s refiners.
Further complicating this situation this Benicia Valero refinery is also the major fuel supplier for Travis Air Force Base, delivered via direct pipeline from the refinery to the base fuel pits. The busy military hub uses a tremendous amount of jet fuel that is not easily replaceable by CA’s rapidly dwindling sources, and that would have to be brought in by a fuel truck.
And so we have it!
Newsom and his Sacramento cronies may have gone beyond the point of no return. How much longer will rational Californians continue to tolerate such tomfoolery?
5/6/25