Last week, in one of the most shameless displays of tone-deaf hypocrisy from a politician in recent memory, California Governor Gavin Newsom blamed “Trump’s war with Iran” for high gas prices. While gas prices have indeed climbed since the start of U.S. strikes at the beginning of the month, Newsom is apparently ignoring how his own policies have driven gas prices into the stratosphere in his home state.
As Democrat politicians have been eager to highlight, gas prices have climbed to about $3.70 per gallon nationally, up from around $3.00 per gallon a month ago. The White House, however, remains optimistic that prices could come down quickly in the weeks ahead. (It’s also worth noting that gas prices peaked at over $5.00 per gallon during the Biden administration – something Newsom and other Democrats remained curiously silent on.)
But prices won’t be coming down much in California, where drivers are being slammed at the pump not because of military strikes overseas, but because of Democrats’ climate agenda. The average price for a gallon of gas in California is now an astonishing $5.52 per gallon – higher even than Hawaii, which has to import all of its oil.
Under Newsom’s aggressive anti-oil policies, Californians pay $1.67 more per gallon at the pump than the national average, according to the Wall Street Journal. As the New York Post has reported, drivers in the state currently pay “roughly $0.28 in higher state excise tax costs, $0.13 in higher sales tax and local fees, and $0.75 for climate programs that are unique to the Golden State.”
“California also requires a special and more costly fuel blend – designed to prevent smog – that only the state’s refineries and specific Asian countries can produce,” the Post added.
But the most disastrous policy of all is the state’s aggressive “cap and trade” restrictions. Under this scheme, oil refineries have a set amount of carbon emissions that they are allowed to release – well below the emissions required to produce enough fuel for the state. If they exceed that allotment, they must purchase additional allowances. The system imposes de facto fines on refineries that then get passed on to consumers in the form of higher costs.
Yet shockingly, Newsom is not taking any action to loosen the vise – in fact, his administration is looking to squeeze companies even harder.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is considering jacking up the cost of so-called “allowances” that oil companies can buy. The goal, as is becoming increasingly clear, is not actually to offset carbon emissions, but to make it prohibitively expensive for oil refineries to operate so they will shut down or leave the state, as many have so far. Democrats want to make driving gasoline cars so expensive that people will have to switch to electric vehicles – which are also expensive, and which experts say the power grid cannot support.
Industry and Republican leaders are warning about the severe consequences of the proposed CARB changes.
Raising the cost “will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries,” Chevron President Andy Walz wrote in a recent letter. Under Newsom’s disastrous climate leadership, refining capacity has already dropped 18 percent, Walz said. The capacity is set to drop further, as oil companies Phillips 66 and Valero are laying off workers and shutting down refineries.
Harmful climate policies would not just raise prices at the pump, but could also harm national security and have a dangerous ripple effect across the state’s economy, Chevron argued.
“California refineries supply a broad range of transportation fuels, including aviation fuels that are critical to commercial and military operations,” Chevron’s president wrote. He highlighted the 30 military bases in the state which need reliable fuel supplies – all of which could be at risk if California doesn’t reverse course soon.
Republican state Senator Suzette Valladares echoed these concerns, saying Newsom’s schemes could lead to a repeat of the 1970s energy crisis.
“Because of cap and invest, we’re looking at $1 more a gallon for gas,” Valladares told the California Post. “We are one refinery away from losing another 10 percent of California’s supply.”
Moreover, the anti-oil policies that Newsom and California Democrats have championed are actually resulting in more carbon emissions. Because of refinery closures and capacity drawdowns in California, the state now must import gasoline.
Due to the unintended consequences of a 1920s shipping law known as the Jones Act, it is easier to import oil from foreign countries than from Gulf Coast states. In California’s case, that gas is coming from the Bahamas – some 5,000 to 6,000 nautical miles away.
“The ironic upshot of the state’s anti-fossil fuel regulations is higher CO2 emissions from all that transport to get the oil to California,” the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board opined. “In case Mr. Newsom doesn’t know, most oil tankers run on petroleum-based fuels.” California is also importing fuel from South Korea, which is even further away. And while American companies suffer under California Democrats’ policies, foreign companies are benefitting.
All of this may prove politically consequential for Newsom beyond California’s borders. The governor is widely expected to harbor presidential ambitions in 2028, but the Golden State’s sky-high gas prices could become a major electoral anchor around his neck – even in a Democrat primary.
Any opponent will have an easy line of attack in pointing out how Newsom’s own policies made driving to work, school, or anywhere else exorbitantly expensive. If he wants to take those same policies nationwide, voters will inevitably be asked a simple question: do they really want to pay California prices at the pump?
For millions of Americans already struggling to make ends meet, the answer to that question will be an emphatic no.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
