Oil Refinery Plant (Photo: chuyuss/Shutterstock)
Marathon, Chevron, PBF Warn Governor Newsom of Widespread Refinery Shutdowns, Fuel shortages, Economic Collapse
Gov. Newsom is presiding over perhaps the largest collapse of the oil industry, refinery operations and gasoline production in U.S. history
By Katy Grimes, March 10, 2026 4:34 am
With Marathon Petroleum sending a blistering warning to Governor Gavin Newsom and top state officials in a letter declaring that proposed amendments to the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Cap-and-Invest program would destroy whats left of California oil refineries, that makes three severe warnings by the state’s remaining petroleum companies.
Last month, PBF Energy warned that if the CARB amendments are enacted as written, they “will inevitably drive in-state refining capacity to zero.”
Last week, Chevron called the amendments a “death knell” for remaining facilities, forecasting gasoline prices rising more than $1 per gallon by 2030 and threatening to shutter its Richmond and El Segundo refineries.
And, while media continues to obfuscate on rising gas prices, blaming them on the Iran conflict, let us remind you that gas was already up .80 cents before the Iran warfare.
This is from AAA Feb. 2026:
This is yesterday:
This is today:
And this is from Dec. 11, 2025:
The Valero refinery in Benicia is already down, and has been since January 31, 2026. Media keeps reporting it will close in April, but the only thing still in operation, is the wastewater treatment plant, the dock, and a couple of areas of tank farms.
With the three oil company letters hitting Governor Newsom’s desk in less than a month, the proverbial organic substance should be hitting the electric wind machine any time now. But it’s crickets… even Newsom’s Rapid Response team is strangely silent.
The seriousness of three petroleum companies warning that proposed amendments to the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Cap-and-Invest program (cap and trade) would make California refineries “among the most expensive refineries to operate in the world,” threatening widespread shutdowns, fuel shortages, skyrocketing prices, and massive economic damage, should warrant an emergency legislative session, at minimum, called by the governor.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has taken a great deal of liberty, particularly with its interpretation of AB 32. The CARB devised the cap-and-trade system whereby it holds a quarterly auction program requiring selected California employers to bid significant amounts of money for the privilege of continuing to pollute — or be faced with closing their doors.
California’s cap-and-trade program places a “cap” on aggregate greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and utilities deemed “polluters” by the California Air Resources Board, which the CARB says are responsible for most of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. And do not forget that CARB’s cap and trade program Western Climate Initiative Inc. was registered in Delaware, and not in California.
Oil and energy companies have been warning California’s Democrat lawmakers for many years, but the climate change was just a bright shiny object distracting lawmakers from their due their due diligence on the potential for economic devastation if they actually ran oil and gas out of the state – especially when California has all of the oil and gas we need, and plenty to sell.
Remember, Gov. Newsom tried to claim for the longest time that the state’s highest-in-the-nation gas taxes and prices are not what led to dramatically spiking gas/oil prices but because of price gouging by the oil industry. In May, Newsom even signed a gas price gouging law into place.
He’s silent on that front now. While Governor Newsom touts his “success” on national and international stages, he is presiding over perhaps the largest collapse of the oil industry, refinery operations and gasoline production in U.S. history.
California is now importing over 70% of its crude from foreign sources, and 30% of that is from the Middle East. Why?
The question should be, why hasn’t someone in the media asked the governor that question. And the answer is not “climate change.”
Gov. Newsom, the Legislature and State Air Resources Board have been working hand in glove to restrict the availability of oil and gas and increase the cost of gas at the pump so severely, middle class and working class drivers will be making choices between groceries and fuel for the car, if they aren’t already.
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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“With the three oil company letters hitting Governor Newsom’s desk in less than a month, the proverbial organic substance should be hitting the electric wind machine any time now. But it’s crickets… even Newsom’s Rapid Response team is strangely silent.”
I think I know the reason. Newsom has been traveling the country telling everyone he can’t read because of dyslexia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ABgevpG8s
Ramin Real Talk did a great video covering this self-inflicted debacle that is being foisted upon us by UNELECTED BUREAUCRATS….
The implosion of the oil and gas industry in the PRK was intentional, just like the Palisades (and many before it) were engineered “redevelopment” operations. Remember that Gavin is an acolyte of the WEF cult. the purpose of this economic chaos isn’t to force you to buy a Tesla. It’s to force you to park the car and walk or ride the bicycle to work (and find a job closer to home if you can’t), make animal protein like beef unaffordable, push you into shopping closer to home or online more, gradually make your home unaffordable, and eventually, force you into accepting some sort of government assistance – a precursor to Universal Basic Income. In other words, to gradually force you into the “you will own nothing” gulag concept of 15 minute cities.
The PRK is one of the globalist cult’s test cases, to work out the bugs in their tactics. One monkey wrench in their machinery has been the public’s refusal to move to EV’s and public transportation, but The Cult hasn’t given up. How fast they continue to move here hinges on the Democrats retaking control of Congress this year. If they succeed in doing that, we can expect some sort of blatant maneuver to make ICE vehicles too expensive to drive. One way I can see to do that would be expanding the “cap and invest” scam to include owners of private cars and trucks. Another would be to impose a “climate change mitigation fee” through your vehicle registration or insurance. If you had to pay another $1,000 or more a year to drive your car, could you afford it? In my case, the answer is no.
Excellent analysis. I have written for so many years about Newsom’s WEF Young Global Leaders training, as well as his compliance with China. I am in the middle of an article about China’s influence on our climate policies, as well as their motives. -Katy
Thank you, an excellent articulation of our destructors plan for our forced contrition and obedience.
There exists another factor of our capitulation that may indicate the objectives of our domination are already well developed: That issue, the transition of our currency to a severely diminished value. One ounce of gold commands in excess of $5,000 US Dollars: The deterioration of our dollars value has decreased in excess of 70% during the past year alone.
Henry Kissinger said:
“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”
The comments of our elected officials regardless the party are in total embracing the final touches of “making palatable” the abandonment of debt concerns; thus ushering in the “inflating away” of the amassed debt and thereby invoke the new digital currency. A digital currency in conjunction with social scoring rounds out what you so aptly described.
I could rationalize the extraneous events occuring through the world could be the invocation of distractions sufficient to transition America to the revised socioeconomic paradigm. The already amassed irreconcilable debt precludes Americans from “getting back” the America and freedoms we once enjoyed and and allowed to be taken from ourselves and our posterity.
Again, thank you and may all take seriously you description of our developing predicament.
Only the Globe is covering this: Thus and therefore cancel your subscription to any and all newspapers you rely on for information including the Orange County Register!