Californians pay the highest income taxes in the nation, have the highest taxes on the wealthy, highest gas taxes and highest gas prices at the pump, highest housing prices, highest energy prices, most regressive taxes hurting the poor… need we keep going? California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest proposal is a new tax on oil suppliers, and will only serve to make gas prices even higher.
But CLIMATE CHANGE!
Gov. Newsom continues to demonize the oil and gas industry for “windfall oil company profits,” while patting himself on the back for “taking action to lower prices at the pump, by ordering the switch to winter-blend gasoline.” He also is “demanding accountability from oil companies and refiners that do business in California,” by calling for a windfall tax on oil companies, claiming that money “would go directly back to California taxpayers.”
We don’t believe for a minute that Gov. Newsom is woefully ignorant of the supply and demand economic model of price determination in a market. So that means the governor is relying on politics and deceit.
California’s record-high gas prices have been as high as nearly $8.00 per gallon in some locations.
Newsom cannot legislate a better climate by increasing energy costs, and turning over more energy decisions to unelected state bureaucrats, lobbyists, and activists. This is one of the worst things California’s Governor and politicians can do while claiming they are “saving the planet,” but really harming Californians economically.
The Western States Petroleum Association has warned Gov. Newsom will start banning gasoline, diesel and even hybrid cars and trucks in 2026, well before California has an electrical grid that can handle the increased energy demand while keeping our light on, or before there are more affordable electric vehicle options for families.
Energy providers currently direct electric car owners to NOT charge their vehicles during hot days when they anticipate energy shortages and possible rolling blackouts.
The California Air Resources Board is leading this charge to fulfill Gov. Newsom’s executive order to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.
California is rich in natural resources which once powered the state: natural gas deposits in the Monterey Shale formation; geothermal energy, abundant rivers and waterways such as the San Joaquin River Delta and hydroelectric dams; the Pacific coastline; 85 million acres of wildlands with 17 million of those used as commercial timberland; mines and mineral resources, vast farming and agricultural lands, and hunting and fishing.
But California politicians and appointed agency officials, under pressure from radical environmental organizations and lobbyists, decided to ignore the energy producing natural resources, and instead move to an all-electric grid, and the only approved “renewable energy:” solar and wind energy, or “boutique fuels.”
In August, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California conflated climate change, drought, wildfires and the oil and gas industry through dextrous questions and weighted demographics.
The pollsters obviously had a desired conclusion, and created the questions and demographics to draw that conclusion using a significantly higher number of polled Democrats, a significantly higher number of high income Californians, and a significantly higher number of polled whites.
The PPIC poll conclusion supports Gov. Newsom’s claims about “windfall profits,” justifying his restrictions of the oil and gas industry under the guise of “climate change.”
Newsom listed oil company profits in a recent email, and then accused refiners like PBF Energy of “making more profits off of Californians than in any other state.”
In 1982, California had 43 operational oil refineries and a population of nearly 25 million; today we have 11 operational oil refineries and a population of nearly 40 million. And these 40 million residents are driving more cars, living in more houses and apartments, working in more commercial buildings, shopping in more stores, and traveling more across the state – all of which takes much more traditional energy.
The Globe has addressed Gov. Newsom’s claim that oil companies “are ripping you off. Their record profits are coming at your expense.” Newsom left out the part where in 2021 he largely killed hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in California as part of his overall plan to end oil extraction… because of Climate Change. He also announced his action to halt issuance of fracking permits by 2024.
And then Newsom claims, “Big oil was making these record profits at a time when Californians were seeing gas price hikes at the pump, despite the fact that the cost of crude oil was down.”
In October, Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) boiled down the actual problem of California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices and gas taxes in a letter to the governor. The highlights are:
- California’s isolated markets
- an inability to access additional fuel that meets California’s stringent standards
- the most hostile regulatory requirements
- the most aggressive environmental policies
- the extraordinary expense of cap and trade
- the highest tax per gallon of gasoline
- impossible standards that are not found in any other state in the nation
- limited supply
“There is really no need for additional explanation of why California has the highest and most volatile, gas prices in the nation,” Sen. Grove said. “Simply put, your [Governor] policies have created this problem and have caused the pain at the pump that is hurting every single California family. In fact, federal judges have continued to throw out cases alleging price conspiracies by the fuel industry finding no basis for the allegations that you continue to levy.”
We are witnessing political science and not climate science.
View Comments (7)
Katy Grimes is right that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest proposal is just another new tax on oil suppliers and it will make gas prices even higher. The Democrat solution for any issue is to always blame others and then institute another tax.
Thanks again to Katy Grimes and The Globe for setting the record straight.
It was Michael Shellenberger, when he was running for Gov this year, who made the striking and quotable comment that "whatever the problem, Gavin Newsom looks around for someone to blame. When he can't find anyone, he blames climate change."
Still searching for someone who actually VOTED for Gruesome, or who can even TALK about him without cursing.
Well said -
Newsom is the worst governor California has ever had. His constant lying and gas lighting is nauseating. Why people vote for this failure of a governor is behind logic. There is a limited supply of gasoline thanks to the Democrats. Lowering prices increases demand. So then we would end up with shortages. Is that an improvement? Obviously, we need more supply.
Newsom is just following his World Economic Forum/New World Order marching orders as one of Klaus Schwab's "Young Global Leaders"(circa 2005)
Their plan is to make traditional fuel so expensive, via all of their "climate change" BS, that they crash the economy, absolve themselves of all the debts and over-extension of the economic system, that provides them cover to replace paper money with Central Bank Digital Currencies, and the centralized control they provide, via the underlying and associated "social credit score"...
The C19 plandemic was just the catalyst to begin this economic coup, and the "climate change" "Green New Deal" and "Build Back Better" is the second phase of their planned, hyper-inflatoonary economic collapse plan...
This all goes WAY beyond the immediately visible issue....and is so insidious that most folks can't wrap their heads around it, or would even want to...
For a horrifying look into this planned, dystopian future, I highly recommend that everyone look at http://www.globalresearch.ca and read many of the articles there...
Newsom ain't that smart, but he is that corrupt, and he's just playing his part in contributing to the globalist economic collapse plan via fuel,energy and water policy management...
California is becoming a dumping ground for all the nuts in the nation. The supposed leaders have no grip on the real world and what is happening in it. Everytime we turn around they have another stupid law that only hurts the people.
Meanwhile... he feels no qualms about charging $120 for bottles of FatJack wine.