The upcoming closures by refining giants Phillips 66 and Valero Energy have triggered an about-face from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and state regulators to try to keep the fuel complexes open after years of rules that cut into their bottom lines. It's too late to save Phillips 66's Los Angeles refinery, which is processing its final shipments of crude oil in October before closing before the end of this year.
Here comes gas shortages and soaring prices. Seventeen percent of California's refinery capacity is scheduled to close by mid-2026. Last week's explosion in El Segundo just knocked out our largest refinery. The state's attempt to nudge people into electric vehicles has stalled. Thanks to the California Air Resources Board, California can't import gasoline from other states. With all this, I'll bet that $7 a gallon gas is in our future. It will be a regressive tax on Californians who can least afford it.
Seventeen percent of California's refinery capacity is scheduled to close by mid-2026. Last week's explosion in El Segundo just knocked out our largest refinery. The state's attempt to nudge people into electric vehicles has stalled. Thanks to the California Air Resources Board, California can't import gasoline from other states. With all this, I'll bet that $7 a gallon gas is in our future.
As the legislature inches closer to its Saturday deadline to pass legislation, there's more than just Cap-and-Trade being put on the agenda at the last minute. Early yesterday morning-the deadline for bills to be printed in order to be eligible for a vote during the final legislative session on Saturday-amendments to Senate Bill 237 were introduced that would allow for up to 2,000 new permits for oil extraction in Kern County annually. Last year, just 84 such permits were granted statewide.
California legislators are considering giving Valero Energy Corp. hundreds of millions of dollars to cover refinery maintenance costs in a bid to prevent the closure of a San Francisco-area fuel plant. Under such a deal, the state would pay Valero to continue operating its Benicia refinery, according to people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The plant is slated to close by April, the latest in a string of recent California fuel-plant shutdowns.
