With gasoline prices in some parts of California hitting $5.94 a gallon on Thursday — $2.50 more than the national average — Governor Newsom is once again targeting the oil industry with a new proposal that companies are calling a “political attack on consumers and our industry.”
Newsom is directing the California Energy Commission to require companies to maintain minimum fuel inventories after a regulator found that prices and corporate profits rise when supplies fall as a result of refineries closing for maintenance.
Newsom said in a statement: “Price spikes at the pump mean profit spikes for the oil industry. Refineries should be required to plan ahead … instead of playing games to make even more profits.”
The commission could fine companies that fail to make replenishment plans or maintain adequate fuel supplies. The governor estimates that Californians would have saved at least $650 million at the pump if the rule had gone into effect last year.
But Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president and CEO of the Western States Petroleum Association, said Newsom’s plan shows “a complete lack of understanding of our industry” and that imposing new operating rules based on “such falsehoods” is misconduct by regulators.
The proposal will also not result in pump prices falling any time soon as it must first be negotiated with Parliament. The Energy Commission will then launch a formal legislative process with public feedback to work out the details. This may take several months, although a Commission spokesman said it was “committed to working as quickly as possible to get the rules in place to protect consumers from price spikes”.
Speaking of oil companies, a 2022 law regulating the location of oil and gas wells has not yet been implemented. And it could be delayed for up to four more years due to a last-minute bill, writes CalMatters environmental reporter Julie Cart.
The bill prohibits new oil drilling within 3,200 feet of residential areas and requires safety measures on existing wells, including leak detection. After the bill passed, oil companies spent millions on a vote to overturn it, essentially blocking the law. The industry withdrew the measure in June, but due to cost concerns, the trailer bill could still delay the oil industry’s deadlines for compliance with some regulations by 12 to 54 months.
Senator Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat from Long Beach and author of the original bill, said the new proposal was very frustrating: “So much work has gone into this. We owe it to these communities to keep our word.”
Schiff consolidates leadership in the US Senate
Democratic Representative Adam Schiff has consolidated his lead over Republican Steve Garvey in the race for the U.S. Senate in California, while the Democratic majority is gaining ground.
That’s according to a new poll released Thursday by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times. Schiff leads likely voters 53% to 33%, up from 53% to 38% before the March primary, which also included two other high-ranking Democrats.
There is a deep partisan divide: Schiff leads the Democrats 84% to 5%, while Garvey leads the less numerous Republicans 88% to 3%. As a reminder, of the 22.1 million registered voters, 46% are Democrats, 25% are Republicans, and 22% have no party preference.
Looking back at 2020, California has not been immune to voter denial. But on Thursday, a federal appeals court affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the November 2020 results and seeking to declare the state’s mail-in voting system unconstitutional. The Election Integrity Project unsuccessfully argued that some voters were harmed because some invalid mail-in ballots were counted.
The ruling: “In order to file a suit for vote dilution, it must be proven that some voters have a disproportionately large voting power compared to others. However, the plaintiffs have not provided this proof – and could not provide it on the basis of the facts cited.”
