An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking into a microphone while seated on stage, Image 2 shows Drivers waiting in lines to pump gasoline into their vehicles at a gas station, Image 3 shows Drivers pump gasoline into their vehicles at a gas station at the Marina Del Rey community of Los Angeles, California
California will finally begin pumping offshore oil again near Santa Barbara — saving our state’s economy from catastrophe.
Several oil companies had warned that new regulations restricting fossil fuel production could mean the loss of California’s few remaining refineries.
That would have sent gas prices skyrocketing even higher — and would have jeopardized duel supplies in the state.
Drivers wait in lines to pump gasoline into their vehicles at a gas station in Marina del Rey, Los Angeles on March 2. AFP via Getty Images
So the revival of the offshore oil and gas industry is welcome news, even if its products will take some time to come to market.
But it’s no thanks to state and local leaders, who are still vowing to go to court to stop the resumption of offshore pumping.
The renewal is the result of an executive order by President Donald Trump, who again has shown that he cares more about California than its own elected leaders.
In this case, Trump didn’t do it just to help California.
He did it because the war in Iran is sending oil prices higher and the entire economy needs more fuel.
He’s also been forced to do it because Democrats emptied the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during the Biden administration, and proudly blocked efforts to restock it.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SBX1-2 in 2023 after calling a special legislative session on gas prices.
Getty Images
Still, Trump knows that he’s helping California by pumping oil.
There are environmental concerns — and the Trump administration is taking them seriously.
Notably, pipelines spills are rare. And it’s not as if importing oil from foreign countries, or bringing it in by road and rail, is any safer.
We’d love to rely on solar and wind power alone, just like we’d love to ride rainbow unicorns to work.
The fact is that our economy relies on fossil fuels and petroleum products, and they make our lives better and safer.
There are hundreds of thousands of jobs in California connected to the oil and gas industry — jobs that too many state administrations have stopped caring about.
Newsom can pound the podium all he wants, but the fact is that he has a law at his disposal that would allow him to lower gas prices on his own.
As CalMatters noted recently, Newsom signed SBX1-2 in 2023 after calling a special legislative session on gas prices. The new law gave him the power to restrict refinery profit margins.
Gas prices in LA surged on March 2 as the war in the Middle East led to outages of key energy production operations. AFP via Getty Images
But he has never used it. And last year, worried about losing refinery capacity, and the possibility of soaring gas prices — long before the war — Newsom backed off in his fight against the industry.
Last year, the California Energy Commission also delayed Newsom’s new rules penalizing refinery profits until 2029. He could argue with them. He hasn’t.
And that’s because Newsom knows prices have to come down. He just wants someone else to take responsibility.
And so the president has. He may even suspend the Jones Act, the 1920 law that prevents foreign ships from carrying good from one U.S. port to another. That would mean fewer long trips to the Bahamas for tankers traveling between between Texas and California.
If Newsom carries out his legal threats, Californians will watch their governor go to court to argue for lower domestic oil production and higher prices at the pump.
That might impress some environmental lobby groups and deep-pocketed NIMBYs. It won’t impress California drivers, who will say: “Yes, in our back yard.”
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