{"id":279640,"date":"2026-04-22T03:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279640\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:27:10","slug":"californias-self-made-energy-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279640\/","title":{"rendered":"California’s self-made energy crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blaming global forces for California\u2019s high gas prices<\/a> may be convenient \u2014 but it misses the point<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prices have risen nationwide, yet Californians still pay significantly more<\/a> than the rest of the country, just as we long have.<\/p>\n

This didn\u2019t happen to us.\u00a0We built it.<\/p>\n

Over the last 10 years, California has lost significant in-state oil production and refining capacity<\/a>. In-state crude production has fallen by roughly 60% since the mid-1980s, and refinery capacity has steadily declined as facilities closed or converted operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, California imports the majority of its crude oil, much of it from foreign countries, despite still consuming millions of barrels per day.<\/p>\n

Demand didn\u2019t disappear.<\/p>\n

Supply did.<\/p>\n

\"AA man pumps gasoline into his vehicle at a gas station in Los Angeles. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Legislators layered increasingly complex regulations on in-state production, expanded low-carbon fuel standards, signaled long-term phaseouts, and repeatedly discussed punitive measures such as windfall penalties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investors do not ignore that kind of messaging. Capital moves where it is welcomed and stable.<\/p>\n

California made it clear that traditional energy investment had no future here.<\/p>\n

Markets responded rationally.<\/p>\n

Refineries require billions of dollars in capital investment and operate on decades-long timelines. No company will commit that level of investment when policymakers openly say the sector is temporary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The result has been predictable: tighter supply, thinner margins for disruption, and greater volatility at the pump.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Sacramento expanded mandates.<\/p>\n

\"ChevronThe sign of a Chevron gas station displays current prices as drivers pump gas in Rosemead on March 18, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Electrification requirements accelerated. Fleet conversion deadlines tightened. Building codes shifted toward all-electric construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But those mandates were not paired with equivalent investments in firm, dispatchable power or rapid infrastructure expansion.<\/p>\n

Energy demand is rising \u2014 driven factors such as electrification and the rapid expansion of AI-powered data centers \u2014 yet stable in-state generation has not kept pace.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, California\u2019s residential electricity rates have climbed to nearly double the national average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For working families, that is not theoretical. It shows up every month.<\/p>\n

And while demand grows, sources of reliable power have been weakened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The state initially moved to shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, a zero-emission facility providing nearly 9% of California\u2019s electricity, before replacement capacity was fully secured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only after warnings from grid operators did leaders partially reverse course.<\/p>\n

Removing reliable baseload power while increasing electrification mandates is not climate leadership.<\/p>\n

It is structural misalignment.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also relied on imports to mask declining in-state supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, California depends heavily on crude oil imported from Alaska, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as electricity from neighboring states during times of peak demand.<\/p>\n

But imports are not a safety net. They expose Californians to global supply chain disruption and price volatility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current events in the Middle East are a perfect example of why relying on imports is destabilizing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also shift emissions rather than eliminate them. Shipping specialized fuels across oceans does not make California cleaner. It moves production and jobs elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Permitting paralysis has compounded the problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Major energy infrastructure projects \u2014 pipelines, storage, transmission lines \u2014routinely face years of delay under overlapping regulatory regimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even projects aligned with state climate goals can take a decade to advance. When timelines stretch indefinitely and regulatory standards shift midstream, private investment retreats.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been eliminating supply faster than demand has fallen.<\/p>\n

Every warning sign was visible: declining refining capacity, shrinking in-state production, stalled infrastructure, grid strain, growing reliance on imports, rising electricity rates. None of this was unforeseeable.<\/p>\n

These were not market accidents.<\/p>\n

They were policy choices.<\/p>\n

Now Californians are absorbing the consequences. Gasoline is not a luxury in our state. It is how parents get to work, how goods move through ports, how agriculture operates, and how emergency services function.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Electricity is not optional. It powers homes, hospitals, and the digital economy that state leaders are simultaneously encouraging to expand.<\/p>\n

Energy policy is not about slogans. It is about sequencing, stability, and long-term planning.<\/p>\n

California once proved that environmental progress and economic strength could coexist. But that progress was grounded in realism, not mandates detached from infrastructure readiness.<\/p>\n

We did not arrive at this moment by chance.<\/p>\n

We arrived here through a series of decisions that discouraged supply, underestimated demand, and assumed imports would always close the gap.<\/p>\n

And if we don\u2019t change course, we will be looking at $10+\/per gallon and gas shortages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suzette Valladares, a Republican, represents the 23rd District in the California Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blaming global forces for California\u2019s high gas prices may be convenient \u2014 but it misses the point.\u00a0 Prices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,6774,147,8169,8390,975],"class_list":{"0":"post-279640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-energy","12":"tag-gas-prices","13":"tag-green-energy","14":"tag-oil","15":"tag-opinion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}