Greenberg: A Novice Congressional Candidate Blows it on Energy Politics
Connie Chan, eager to fill Nancy Pelosi’s Seat, shows she ill-equipped
By Richie Greenberg, March 25, 2026 7:16 am
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating Iran from Oman and the United Arab Emirates, is a critical global chokepoint. Roughly 25% of the world’s seaborne oil trade, about 20 million barrels per day, normally passes through it. Today it has become a major flashpoint in the ongoing U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran.
Since late February, Iran has exerted aggressive control over shipping in the strait, threatening and attacking vessels. This has severely restricted flows, caused oil prices to spike sharply, and triggered predictions of widespread shortages.
California, by contrast, sits on substantial oil resources. Estimates of potential and undiscovered crude oil resources reach as high as 30 billion barrels, concentrated especially in Kern County (the state’s production heartland) and parts of Los Angeles County. However, much of the resource base remains unexplored or uneconomic under current regulations.
Existing oil fields and refineries have steadily declined for years, the result of the state’s aggressive climate policies and commitment to decarbonizing its economy by 2045. Governor Gavin Newsom, the state legislature in Sacramento, and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have worked in concert to impose ever-stricter rules on extraction and refining. The end result is that California, despite its vast resource base, now imports up to 70% of the crude oil needed by its refineries.
Logistics make the situation even worse. There is no pipeline connecting Alaska or the Gulf Coast to California. Crude must instead be loaded onto tankers, shipped through the Panama Canal, and delivered after a voyage of two to three weeks. The global tanker fleet is finite, and the century-old Jones Act, a federal law requiring that goods shipped between U.S. ports travel on U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged vessels with predominantly American crews, severely limits available capacity and drives up costs.
Add the ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, and Middle East-sourced oil bound for California faces major additional delays and risks.
To ease the strain on California’s energy supply, President Donald Trump has taken two concrete steps. First, he signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to restart the long-idled Santa Ynez Unit offshore platforms and pipeline system near Santa Barbara. Once fully operational, the project is expected to produce up to 60,000 barrels per day, helping offset part of the shortfall in imported crude.
Second, the administration temporarily suspended the Jones Act for 60 days. This waiver allows foreign-flagged tankers to transport oil and other critical commodities between U.S. ports, easing the immediate backlog and helping stabilize supply.
Not everyone welcomes these measures. At a time of genuine national energy stress caused by the Iran conflict and compounded by California’s self-imposed production limits, pragmatic solutions are essential.
Nancy Pelosi has announced she will not seek reelection in 2026, setting off a competitive race for her San Francisco congressional seat. Among the leading candidates are State Senator Scott Wiener, tech entrepreneur and former Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, and San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Connie Chan, all positioned on the progressive left.
In response to Trump’s Jones Act suspension, Supervisor Chan released a brief 30-second video stating: “The Jones Act requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be American-operated… and Trump suspending the Act is hurting all Americans.”
That’s essentially the entire argument.
A MOST IGNORANT TAKE from San Francisco’s Connie Chan, member of Board of Supervisors (city council) and candidate to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress. Lack of understanding. Major disservice. Ridiculous messaging. pic.twitter.com/ZzbY3MkddA
— Richie Greenberg (@greenbergnation) March 22, 2026
Connie Chan’s clip is a masterclass in simplistic political messaging that leaves viewers significantly less informed than when they started. Her statement is ridiculously devoid of context. She never mentions the Hormuz crisis that triggered the waiver, California’s heavy import dependence, or the state’s self-imposed production limits. She offers no acknowledgment that the measure is temporary, narrowly targeted, and designed to prevent fuel shortages during a genuine national emergency. She also omits that the Act has been suspended numerous times in the past, under George H. Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump in his first term.
Instead, she presents it as an unqualified attack on American workers, relying on emotional rhetoric (“we stand with American workers”) while ignoring all trade-offs.
In under 30 seconds, Chan reduces a complex crisis response to an empty soundbite, pure heat with almost no light, leaving her audience dumber for having watched it.
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- Greenberg: A Novice Congressional Candidate Blows it on Energy Politics - March 25, 2026
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Another prima facie example of WHY California needs to REJECT any and all “community organizers” into legislative positions, as they are devoid of logic or real-world experience and make STUPID, ILL-INFORMED statements like this piece of virtue signaling displays…
The article also explains the rush to “decarbonize” California and how that plan is hurting the state’s economy, energy-readiness and military support functions… but omits WHO is spearheading this rush to “decarbonize”…
The answer to that question is ; THE WORLD ECONIMC FORUM (aka “the globalists”) are the ones who are issuing mandates and roadmaps to “decarbonize” the world and achieve “net zero” and here is one of their latest position papers on the subject :
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/11/not-on-track-for-net-zero-2050-how-we-get-there/
California Democrats are essentially the foot-soldiers of the World Economic Forum, the REAL “Kings/Queens” who consider themselves our betters and are upending the economy to position themselves in power and centralize control under the guise of chasing the “climate change” boogeyman….when the Earth has been changing its own climate based upon naturally occurring events (geo-thermal eruptions, volcanoes, electromagnetic solar eruptions, etc.) for MILLENIA….
REMOVE these idiot Democrats WITHOUT PREJUDICE as they are HURTING California, and GASLIGHTING you in the process… Tom Steyer is the biggest fraud out there, as he made his BILLIONS chasing the “climate change” illusion and profiting HANDSOMELY from the chicken-little narrative espoused by the globalist World Economic Forum and the wealthy oligarchs behind it….
Well said. Newsom is an alumnus of the WEF Young Leaders program, or whatever it’s called. At the heart of this is their desire, need, actually, for World War III. Larry Fink is almost giddy over the conflict with Iran. it will derail Trump’s economic recovery. What nobody seems to realize is that this is not a war with Iran. It’s the beginning of the war with Islam, a conflict that had to happen sooner or later. The globalists maneuvered Trump into a Hobson’s choice, by allying with the Muslim Brotherhood. With the rise of the Red/Green Alliance, any fight with the deep state became a fight with Islam. The fools thought they could use Islam as a bludgeon, then discard it when it was no longer needed. Instead, they’ve been co-opted. Hundreds of Democrat politicians now cater to the thousands of Muslim ‘refugees’ they imported, because they vote as a block. Lose the support of the local Imam, you’ve lost the election. The same thing has happened on the other side of the aisle, only it’s Zionists (not Jews, Zionists – the difference is profound).
Trump is only there for two more years; after he’s gone, it’s back to business as usual for both parties. Islam, with the globalists (who also run China, that’s what Xi is), has been prosecuting a civilization jihad and economic warfare against the West for years. We lost Dearborn years ago, and have now lost New York City. It’s either push them back under their rock now, or ten years from now there will be no West left to save.
Even so, Trump was and is still trying to negotiate, but it’s too late. Larry Fink is ecstatic because the globalists’ third reset has been triggered; I call it the bankster’s Shmita. Push the world into global conflict, sit back and finance the combatants, and when the dust settles, most of their system’s bad debt has been destroyed, and the rest can be recapitalized by looting and pillaging the losers. The flurry of activity to rebuild what’s been lost creates the illusion of prosperity. With each iteration, the banksters gather more wealth and power unto themselves.
I think this time is different. They’ve thrown the two most viciously fanatical ideologies on Earth, Zionism and Islam, into a cage match – and we’re all in the cage with them. Nobody is in control now, and this won’t stop. It will instead wind down as the numbers of willing and able combatants dwindles. Should he survive, I hope Larry likes his new mud hut, because that’s where this is headed.