Oil pumpjack, San Benito County. (Photo: Katy Grimes for California Globe)
After Battering Oil/Gas Industry, Gavin Newsom Wants California Oil Refineries to Stay Open
Gov. Newsom signed a package of ‘sweeping legislation’ in September 2022 to achieve statewide carbon neutrality
By Katy Grimes, April 26, 2025 2:55 am
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.”
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Newsom knows if another refinery shuts down either for maintenance or permanently, and Californians end up in gas lines, that will make national news. The legacy media won’t be able to spin it enough to save the careers of Newsom and many Democrats. Newsom can kiss his Presidential aspirations away. He’d be done.
Worst Governor Ever Gavin Newsom is done anyway, whether he’s too thick and arrogant (bad combination) to know it or not.
His record, all of which is easily accessible, and most of which the rest of the country is by now well aware, is ATROCIOUS (as you know) from the time he was an S.F. Supervisor to his present second (!) term as CA governor.
He is the one person most responsible for flattening and destroying the Once-Golden State.
Hope he’s happy about that. He probably is.
So, is California the only state where the greedy oil companies are price gouging? Is there any evidence that this so-called gouging is going on anywhere else in the lower 48 states? It is safe to say that excessive government interference is what drives up prices and creates scarcity. This is not a new experiment, and it is happening because of elected and unelected bureaucrats. My personal belief is that this is a temporary head fake. They are achieving the desired results of society altering policies. Newsom is attempting to setup a narrative for the future.
No oil company in their right mind would do business in California. The AQMD is out of control with regulations.
He will beg and plead and lie to get them to stay. If they are foolish enough to believe him he will thank them by stabbing them in the back. If he was sincere the first thing he should do is FIRE all the CARB traitors and shut down the agency.
newsom is literally the billion dollar train wreck to nowhere
It’s imperative Donald Trump intervene immediately and temporarily take control of both the Philips and Valero refineries before the dismantling effort commences.
Both refineries are critical infrastructure not only California but the United States of America once dismantled will never return.
You are incorrect. The refining capacity will return almost immediately. It will just be in Texas rather than California. Trump will affirmatively NOT intervene, or should he. If your enemy is determined to hang himself why should you try stop him from buying rope?
Gavin Newsom is a very dangerous man who is not to be underestimated. As we saw in his debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis, Gavin Newsom has the ability to lie, finger point and manufacture phony claims almost instantly. This will be his strategy from now until Election Day 2028. I’m fairly certain he will be the Democrat nominee because that party is so devoid of any coherent candidates, however Newsom can spin a yarn faster than anyone else. Keep in mind that he will be out of office late next year and he is not above putting some blame on his replacement which will most likely be Madam Knee Pads herself Kamala Harris. Also don’t underestimate the pathetic propaganda media with their so called Fact Checkers and Lying by Omission reporting to help Newsom right along. So as California begins to implode with countless man made problems like gasoline shortages, rolling blackouts and the worst schools in the country, Gavin Newsom will be sharpening his tongue claiming he is the Greatest Governor California ever had. If all of you will excuse me I need to go take a shower, the thought of Newsom makes me feel soiled.
Newsom cannot even grovel without lying.
Newsom has created this mess, hi paying jobs going elsewhere and California’s are paying the price. wiener is an idiot I t
So Gavin Newsom laughably tried to blame the Trump administration in his letter, saying that they are responsible for economic instability and market turmoil that was harming oil companies? Gavin Newsom is not only a weasel, he’s a lying demonic WEF globalist stooge who sold his soul to the dark side.
To get off foreign oil, buy an EV.
And only drive it when Newsom says it is OK?
Only drive it when the power grid stays up or isn’t catching fire and burning out thousands of homes – the Palisades and Eaton Fires are Gavin Newsom’s greatest accomplishment, thanks to 1) his INACTION on fuel-load maintenance in deference to his “green” cabal supporters, and 2) his water-management policies which contributed to slow-walking the reservoir maintenance due to his CEQA and Coastal Commission permitting rules and red-tape regulations and 3) his inability to manage Lara as Insurance Commissioner, resulting in TENS OF THOUSANDS of homeowners who are CURRENTLY UNABLE to get their properties insured by commercial insurers, who will now have more reasons to RED-LINE the newly released “high risk” fire zones from CalFire, which will price any remaining commercially-supplied insurance unaffordable and push MORE people into the California FAIR plan, which is under-funded and going to be passing along rate increases to those of us already unfortunate enough to have to be in that plan…
Gavin Newsom HAS DESTROYED California, and finished the destruction that Jerry “The Clown” Brown started in his second term…
Recent new rules that are meant to increase operator’s cash bonds from $200 thousand to potentially in excess of $20 million makes buying any CA oil property out of the question now. No one is buying and selling oil and gas companies in CA now. Gov Gruesome and his sycophants on Sac pass a new law almost weekly not for any environmental reasons, but simply to drive CA’s independent oil and gas companies out of business. period. I never thought it was possible that in this country a government agency can simply force you out of business into bankruptcy because of their political ideology. I am witnessing this communistic control coming down on independent CA oil and gas operators like a led balloon.