Governor Newsom’s Unpopularity Might Have Something To Do With His Extreme Mandates That Make Life Unaffordable – OpEd

California’s emission mandates do an excellent job of increasing the cost of electricity, products, and fuels to its citizens. 

In California, the economy depends on affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner electricity and fuels. Unfortunately, policymakers are driving up California’s electric and gas prices, and California now has the highest electricity and fuel prices in the nation.

Governor Newsom remains oblivious to the fact that “Mandatory Emissions (just in wealthy countries) To Achieve Net-Zero Is A Fool’s Game”. The Governor also remains reluctant, or incapable, of participating in conversations about Basic Energy Literacy questions.

Simply put, in the healthy and wealthy countries, every person, animal, or anything that causes emissions to rise could vanish off the face of the earth, or even die off, and global emissions will still explode in the coming years and decades ahead over the population and economic growth of China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Tanzania. 

China, India, and Indonesia are three of the largest emissions generators, the same countries that do not have the financial wherewithal or technical capabilities to reduce or capture anything!

A careful examination of the global supply chain needs for electricity, products, and fuels for the population trends strongly suggests that “net zero” is a delusion as the end of crude oil that is manufactured into all the products and transportation fuels that built the world to eight billion, would be the end of civilization as “unreliable electricity” from breezes and sunshine cannot manufacture anything.

Today, California imports more electricity than any other US state,  more than twice the amount of Virginia, the second largest importer of electricity. California typically receives between one-fifth to one-third of its electricity supply from outside of the state.

• Over the last two decades, the state retired 11 coal-fired power plants that were providing continuous uninterruptible electricity.
• The San Onfre Nuclear Generating Station closed in 2013, that was also providing continuous uninterruptible electricity.
• Electricity prices have increased more than 98% over the last 15 years.

Texas and California have historically consumed the most gasoline in the United States. In 2021:

• Texas consumed 38.55 million gallons of gasoline per day, which was 11% of the country’s total.
• California consumed 33.31 million gallons per day, which was 9% of the country’s total.

Governor Newsom continues to support reductions in the supply of California’s special blend of fuel that is not manufactured in other states, while in-state demand continues to increase.

• Refinery owners do not control the market price of crude oil, natural gas, gasoline and diesel fuel.
• The price of a barrel of oil is set on the global market and subject to the fundamentals of supply and demand.
• Other factors in the price of gas include the competitive conditions in the marketplace; costs associated with fuel distribution; and local, state and federal taxes. 
• In California, drivers pay over $1 per gallon in state taxes, fees, and greenhouse gas emission reduction program costs. Other states average just $0.32 per gallon. 
• Most of the branded stations across the U.S. are owned and operated by businesspeople who independently decide what to charge for a gallon of gasoline.
• Today, CA fuel is about $2 MORE expensive per gallon than that in Mississippi.

• More people, fewer fuel producers, and anti-oil policies have contributed to fuel producers leaving California. When in-state oil production was at its peak, there were 45 refineries in the state.  Today: there are 16 open refineries and 29 closed refineries.

• The state has one-third of the refineries it had in 1982. Meanwhile, California’s population has grown by over 60%, leaving the state susceptible to higher prices when the special fuel supplied by the state’s refineries is insufficient to meet demand.

• California consumes 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, while only producing 463,000 barrels per day. Thus, the State relies on foreign crude oil imports to run much of the States’ economy.  That dependence, via maritime transportation, from foreign nations for the state’s crude oil energy demands, has increased imported crude oil from 5 percent in 1992 to more than 60 percent today of total consumption. Last year, California spent more than$26 billion for foreign oil.

• Newsom, by continually decreasing in-state oil production, continues to force California, the 4th largest economy in the world, to be the only state in contiguous America that imports most of its crude oil feedstock to refineries from foreign countries. 

• California’s growing dependency on other nations for crude oil is a serious national security risk for America since the State is home to 9 International airports, 41 Military airports, and 3 of the largest shipping ports in America.

• Years after the governor’s order, California is finally set to ban oil and gas fracking. The state’s most recent move was a decision by California’s Geologic Energy Management Division to deny new hydraulic fracturing permits on oil and gas wells. Then, in September 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to ban new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of any occupied structure—a restriction so likely to kill the industry.

• Determined to save the world from climate change, California, with 0.5% of the world’s population, continues to shut down its oil and gas industry, to set an example for the 99.5% of the world’s 8 billion that do NOT live in California, the State remains focused on MANDATING the world’s strictest emissions controls on vehicles, including a regulation that phases out new sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035 regardless of cost to its residents. 

The California assault on oil and gas has been unrelenting. In September 2023, California attorney general Rob Bonta sued Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP for allegedly causing climate change-related damages and deceiving the public. 

• Suing the ONLY supply chain source for the products and fuels DEMANDED by California’s 40 million residents is financial stupidity!

• The California Attorney General is oblivious to reality: Never bite the hand that feeds you, without a replacement to support the products demanded by our materialistic society.

All the above “accomplishments” by Governor Newsom have resulted in raising the cost of electricity, fuels, and products made from fossil fuels. Not surprisingly, the recent Public Policy Institute of America (PPIC) survey revealed that Gavin Newsom is by far the MOST UNPOPULAR Governor in America.

California’s climate warriors may succeed in their quest to eliminate fossil fuels in the state, but it will come at a grievous cost to their fellow residents, and it’s an example that the world cannot possibly emulate, especially for the 80% of humanity in Africa, Asia and Latin America who still live on less than $10 a day – and the billions who still have little to no access to electricity.