mark francis
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Democrats can support bad ideas and policies, but they cannot make those policies good for people other than for those relatively few insiders who cashed in on the wild government spending created by the widespread alarmism deception.
Climate Crusader-in-Chief Newsom Flip-Flops As Scheduled Refinery Closures Spark Panic – RedState
Climate Crusader-in-Chief Newsom Flip-Flops As Scheduled Refinery Closures Spark Panic
By Steve Williams | 2:31 PM on September 24, 2025
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
Steve Williams overlooks the Torrance Refinery located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. (Credit: Steve Williams)
For years, Gavin Newsom and California Democrats have paraded themselves as the gold standard of the climate left. They attacked oil companies, blocked permits, and sued the very industry that keeps the state running. They cheered refinery shutdowns, piled on taxes and regulations, and left families paying record-high gas prices.
Now that energy costs have soared and the electrical grid teeters on the brink, Newsom is scrambling to backpedal and pretend he can fix the very crisis he and his allies on the Left created.
Last Friday, he signed what his office called a “historic package” of bipartisan energy legislation, boasting it would stabilize gas markets, save billions on electric bills, and cut pollution. The media dutifully repeated the talking points. But anyone filling up their tank or opening an electric bill knows the truth: this is political theater from a governor who made the crisis worse and now pretends to be the cure.
What’s been overlooked is that the package he signed does nothing to prevent one of California’s biggest energy threats: refinery closures. Negotiations to keep two Bay Area refineries open collapsed. Without a deal, the Valero plant in Benicia (the city’s largest private employer) will close by the end of the year. More refinery closures are scheduled, further shrinking capacity, killing jobs, and locking California into even higher prices and deeper dependence on imported fuel.
That’s the crisis Newsom refuses to admit. California cannot survive without oil and gas. The very refineries he spent years demonizing are now the lifeline he cannot afford to lose.
Climate Crusader-in-Chief Newsom Flip-Flops As Scheduled Refinery Closures Spark Panic – RedState
Climate Crusader-in-Chief Newsom Flip-Flops As Scheduled Refinery Closures Spark Panic
By Steve Williams | 2:31 PM on September 24, 2025
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
Steve Williams overlooks the Torrance Refinery located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. (Credit: Steve Williams)For years, Gavin Newsom and California Democrats have paraded themselves as the gold standard of the climate left. They attacked oil companies, blocked permits, and sued the very industry that keeps the state running. They cheered refinery shutdowns, piled on taxes and regulations, and left families paying record-high gas prices.
Now that energy costs have soared and the electrical grid teeters on the brink, Newsom is scrambling to backpedal and pretend he can fix the very crisis he and his allies on the Left created.
Last Friday, he signed what his office called a “historic package” of bipartisan energy legislation, boasting it would stabilize gas markets, save billions on electric bills, and cut pollution. The media dutifully repeated the talking points. But anyone filling up their tank or opening an electric bill knows the truth: this is political theater from a governor who made the crisis worse and now pretends to be the cure.
What’s been overlooked is that the package he signed does nothing to prevent one of California’s biggest energy threats: refinery closures. Negotiations to keep two Bay Area refineries open collapsed. Without a deal, the Valero plant in Benicia (the city’s largest private employer) will close by the end of the year. More refinery closures are scheduled, further shrinking capacity, killing jobs, and locking California into even higher prices and deeper dependence on imported fuel.
That’s the crisis Newsom refuses to admit. California cannot survive without oil and gas. The very refineries he spent years demonizing are now the lifeline he cannot afford to lose.