"Cruz, now a 61-year-old living in Arizona, had spent five years working in the environmental department when Powerine Oil Company said it would close the plant in Santa Fe Springs, southeast of Los Angeles. Cruz feared getting laid off again if he stayed in the industry. He decided to look into respiratory therapy, in part because he's asthmatic. A federal job training program paid for his schooling. "I thought it was pretty cool, you know - go from polluting to helping, right?" Cruz said."
"Now he's advising his son, Wilfredo Cruz, as the Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles where the 37-year-old has worked for 12 years plans to close by the end of the month. Thousands - perhaps tens of thousands - of workers could lose jobs in the coming years as California tries to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Energy company Valero said earlier this year it would close a refinery in the Bay Area."
Refinery closures in California are threatening thousands of oil industry jobs as the state reduces reliance on fossil fuels. Willie Cruz retrained from refinery environmental work to respiratory therapy after a plant closure and now advises his son facing another refinery shutdown at Phillips 66. Valero announced a Bay Area refinery closure and the two planned shutdowns represent roughly 18% of the state's refining capacity. California's crude production fell from third to eighth nationally between 2014 and 2024. State regulators and Democratic leaders face tensions between emissions goals, gas prices, industry profits, and permitting decisions, leaving workers uncertain.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]