The current state of California’s energy policy landscape reflects the ongoing debate over how to best balance energy needs and preferences with resource reliability, evolving environmental protections and the economy’s vitality.
Business groups, labor organizations and communities across both the state and here locally in Long Beach are calling for a solution that prioritizes a thoughtful energy transition. There must be prioritization for an even-handed plan capable of respecting the real-world economic pressures faced by working families, businesses and industries.
In Long Beach, this crucial need is sewn into the very fabric of our communities. We are a proudly diverse, deeply progressive city complemented by the busiest, most robust port complex in North America, “America’s Coolest Airport” and some of the nation’s most innovative aerospace companies. While we are all dedicated to working towards a cleaner energy future, we are also deeply tied to logistics, manufacturing, the working communities and the small businesses that rely on affordable, reliable fuel and transportation.
Our values are being directly challenged by the state’s recent energy policies, and their unintended consequences. A gas excise tax increase on July 1, the newly expanded Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) mandates, and the pending closures of the Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington and the Valero refinery in Benicia (which together account for over 17% of in-state fuel production) each promise unnecessary, self-inflicted economic hardships in our community. There is an economic storm brewing across the state; Long Beach as a trade hub must also navigate the impacts of federal trade volatility.
Trade through the Port of Long Beach supports nearly 2.7 million jobs nationwide, contributes $309 billion to GDP and generates $84 billion in tax revenue. In the five-county Southern California region, over 691,000 jobs are connected to port trade, construction, and tourism – or 1 out of every 17 jobs. As a sobering reminder of what is at stake, port and civic leaders emphasize that a 10% drop in cargo cost more than 100,000 jobs regionally.
Continuing to add fuel costs to our industries and partners already dealing with historically tight margins will be more than the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Our drayage trucks, freight operators and warehouse workers depend on diesel. Each incremental cent at the pump adds up fast.
Take for example, Ability TriModal, an award-winning transportation company that has specialized in trans-loading, consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, and retail delivery in Long Beach since 1947 and proud member of The Chamber since 1984.
Few companies embody the realities of California’s energy policy shifts more than they do. Having worked directly with the EPA and CARB since the 1980s, they’ve seen every iteration of environmental regulation come down the pipeline. What they will tell you is not that change is unwelcome, but that mandates too often arrive without consultation, scientific grounding or realistic timelines. The result is technology and regulation moving on two separate tracks: manufacturers can’t build fast enough, technicians can’t be trained fast enough and companies are left with equipment that is too expensive, too unreliable and too quickly obsolete.
It’s not that there is opposition to innovation; there is opposition to this mandate-first mentality that ignores on-the-ground realities and undermines the very spirit of American industry – the drive to continuously make things better. For businesses both in and beyond this industry, California’s current path risks sidelining progress by setting rules we cannot realistically follow.
Long Beach is a forward-thinking community capable of balancing industry growth and environmental sustainability. From the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, to the groundbreaking Clean Trucks Program, to investments into green infrastructure expansion, we have proven we are dedicated to working together to build a bridge to a cleaner future, but one our businesses are still able to walk across.
Young entrepreneurs and climate-considerate workers are looking for a path in the middle. They want to see job growth in logistics, clean manufacturing, port-adjacent green tech. What they don’t want is being forced to choose clean energy at the expense of local wages and commerce.
This is why I am calling upon the Long Beach business community and every concerned stakeholder to stand up now for a balanced energy approach. We must continue to invest in initiatives like port-side charging or hydrogen fueling infrastructure, advocate for stable trade policy, and ensure our workers and businesses have access to reliable, affordable energy. Our infrastructure, our industry, our communities are simply not prepared for the burdensome and unrealistic mandates set upon us by the state.
This is not a call to retreat from progressive environmental values; it is instead an embrace of a solution that balances our unique economic realities. That fact that there is debate in Sacramento represents our progress already. Legislators and regulators are listening. It is time that we speak up.
Jeremy Harris is president and chief executive of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.