Podcast: Has California’s Oil and Gas Industry Hit the Point of No Return?

Following my article “Has California’s Oil and Gas Industry Hit the Point of No Return?” where we lay out how Gov. Newsom is single handedly sending California into energy poverty, rather than economic and energy prosperity, Stuart Turley, President of Sandstone Group, a top energy data and finance consultancy working with companies all throughout the energy value chain, and the EnergyNewsBeat, scheduled a podcast discussion about the article, as well as the follow up, “New Report Warns Consequences of an Oil Pipeline Shutdown Would ‘Cascade Across the State’” with Mike Umbro of Californians for Energy and Science.

As I say in the podcast, I am not the expert – I am just the reporter. Stu and Mike are experts, as are Assemblyman Stan Ellis, USC Professor Professor Michael Mische, and petroleum expert Michael Ariza, whom I interviewed and remain in contact with.

On Dec 5, 2025 Conversations in Energy W/ Stu Turley:

Katy Grimes, Editor in Chief of the California Globe, stops by The Energy News Beat Podcast with Mike Umbro, and we ask some tough questions on California’s Energy Crisis. Mike is a legend on the Energy News Beat podcast, appearing with David Blackmon, Doomberg, and Ronald Stien. And Katy is fighting for California, leading the charge as a long-time Investigative Journalist covering the California State Capitol, the co-author of California’s War Against Donald Trump: Who Wins? Who Loses? and a contributor to “Taxifornia 2016.” This podcast rolled around because Katy Grimes, the Editor in Chief of the California Globe, wrote a brilliant story, “Has California’s Oil and Gas Industry Hit the Point of No Return?” and in that story, she is pointing out that the National Security Risk created by Gavin Newsom’s energy policies may have pushed the oil and gas business to the brink of collapse. On the podcast, we discussed that the main pipeline may shut down in weeks, meaning oil drilled in California will have to be trucked to refineries rather than put into the pipeline. Yes, you read that correctly. Shut down in weeks. We also ask, how many of those truck drivers are illegal migrants who can’t read, and we need thousands of trucks that don’t exist. The other huge issue is the sheer number of tankers that will be piling up off the coast, which is a real problem. There is a good chance that some are no longer part of the Dark Fleet and may not be seaworthy or insured. Mike Umbro discusses his company’s work on using geothermal energy from oil reservoirs to generate clean power, as well as the potential for technologies like coal-to-liquids to provide fuel.

Stuart provided Key Chapter Time Stamps:02:17 California’s Oil Crisis is now a Security Risk

04:50 California Imports 70% of the oil it requires

07:09 Permitting and Regulatory issues for E&P operators

10:06 Crimson Midstream Pipeline, The San Pablo pipeline potential shutdown mid-December

12:21 The largest oil spills were from Tankers, and we are going to see more tankers on the water, driving potential accidents up.

13:51 Shout out to Gene Nelson, PhD., whom I just interviewed, and we talked about that interview that is now in production.

16:06 Nuclear plants had been shut down to make way for wind and solar installations.

18:52: The oil industry is over

22:05 How to fix the broken system

23:55 Alaska imports jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline, causing significant environmental damage.

41:18 Mike Umbro, Energy Environmentalist: Well, that’s about hugs and Chris Wright. I told you I don’t need a hug, I need a permit.

Please make no mistake, we have a crisis brewing in California.