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“Time to school the Pajama Boy who runs this account for the Gov,” the association wrote. “Because this isn’t the flex on Trump he thinks it is.”
California Created Its Own Problem
The association didn’t stop at criticism—they laid out the numbers. California imports 63% of its crude oil from abroad, despite those untapped reserves buried in the state.
Breaking it down with data from the California Energy Commission, the association showed exactly where that imported oil comes from: Iraq at 21%, Brazil at 20%, Guyana at 16%, Ecuador at 14%, Colombia at 6%, Canada at 4%, Mexico at 4%, the UAE at 2%, with Saudi Arabia and other countries making up the rest.
“The only state worried about rattling foreign markets is California,” they explained, “because you have let yourselves become dependent on foreign supplies. You’ve done this to yourselves.”
Newsom Walked Right Into His Own Trap
California drivers pay the highest state gas tax in the nation at $0.709 per gallon. On top of that, environmental compliance costs—including Cap-and-Trade, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and boutique fuel blend mandates—add roughly $0.54 per gallon.
Combined, these policies drive gas prices more than $1.30 above the national average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last week, Californians were paying $4.63 per gallon—nearly $1.70 more than the rest of the country.
Newsom worsened the situation in October 2024 when he signed a law requiring refineries to maintain minimum fuel reserves. Within days, Phillips 66 announced it would close its century-old Los Angeles refinery, and Valero soon followed with plans to shutter its Northern California facility by April 2026—eliminating roughly 17% of the state’s refining capacity.
Meanwhile, California’s in-state oil production has plummeted from 1.1 million barrels per day in 1985 to about 250,000 today. That’s not because the oil ran out—it’s because Sacramento made drilling nearly impossible. In 2023, only 24 new drilling permits were issued, a 99% drop from 2,000 permits in 2020. More than 1,400 applications remain in limbo.
Newsom once labeled oil companies “the polluted part of the climate crisis” and boasted about beating Big Oil. He certainly succeeded—but in replacing California oil with imported crude from Iraq, Brazil, and Guyana.
The Bill Is About to Come Due
The real consequences are just beginning. USC economist Michael Mische warned that with both refinery closures fully implemented by mid-2026, California gas prices could surge 75%, reaching $7.35 to $8.44 per gallon by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the rest of the country enjoys $2.98 per gallon under Trump-era energy policies, with states like Oklahoma at $2.34, Texas at $2.45, and Mississippi at $2.47.
California has effectively become an “energy island,” with no pipelines connecting it to the rest of the country, federal shipping laws routing fuel through the Bahamas, and regulatory hurdles so severe that refineries would rather shut down than operate.
And yet, Newsom’s communications team chose to troll the president about oil markets.
The reality is simple: Gavin Newsom doesn’t have a gas price problem—he has a consequence problem. And every California driver filling up at $4.63 a gallon is paying the price.
