Senators Seek Special Session to Address Refinery Closure
This week Republican senators sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom asking him to call an emergency special session of the Legislature to address the looming impacts of the planned closure the Valero oil refinery in Benicia‚ which the company has announced it will idle in April.
Valero has said it instead intends to import gasoline to maintain fuel supplies‚ which means we are losing excellent jobs here in California while relying on a more fragile system prone to disruption.
Combined with the closure of a Southern California refinery‚ the state stands to lose roughly 20 percent of its in-state refining capacity. What’s more‚ California is a fuel “island” - with no pipelines serving it from other energy-rich parts of the country.
Thanks to taxes and supply constraints‚ Californians already pay much more to gas up than almost any other Americans. And while oil and gasoline prices have both dropped nationwide the past year‚ the cost per gallon has fallen less in California - leaving the gap higher and the California sticker shock all the starker. Independent forecasts suggest the refinery closures could drive California prices higher still.
The state has made it a policy for years to phase out internal-combustion engines in favor of electric vehicles‚ but we are losing the industry that powers today’s economy much faster than tomorrow’s is being built. And ordinary working Californians are being stuck with the bill.
Read the letter for our solutions. We hope the governor listens.
– Senator Megan Dahle
This week Republican senators sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom asking him to call an emergency special session of the Legislature to address the looming impacts of the planned closure the Valero oil refinery in Benicia‚ which the company has announced it will idle in April.
Valero has said it instead intends to import gasoline to maintain fuel supplies‚ which means we are losing excellent jobs here in California while relying on a more fragile system prone to disruption.
Combined with the closure of a Southern California refinery‚ the state stands to lose roughly 20 percent of its in-state refining capacity. What’s more‚ California is a fuel “island” - with no pipelines serving it from other energy-rich parts of the country.
Thanks to taxes and supply constraints‚ Californians already pay much more to gas up than almost any other Americans. And while oil and gasoline prices have both dropped nationwide the past year‚ the cost per gallon has fallen less in California - leaving the gap higher and the California sticker shock all the starker. Independent forecasts suggest the refinery closures could drive California prices higher still.
The state has made it a policy for years to phase out internal-combustion engines in favor of electric vehicles‚ but we are losing the industry that powers today’s economy much faster than tomorrow’s is being built. And ordinary working Californians are being stuck with the bill.
Read the letter for our solutions. We hope the governor listens.
– Senator Megan Dahle
