CA Energy Meltdown

By Mark Fernwood

Car buyers have largely rejected switching to EV’s. Manufacturers and their dealers have huge backlogs of EV inventory. Unfortunately, over the years, the enviro politicians have created ever more regulations. The “California Air Resources Board” (CARB) has declared that only a “special” gas formula, called the “California Blend,” can be sold in CA. In addition, CA gas must be diluted with at least 10% ethanol alcohol. This reduces efficiency and storage life. To further complicate the situation there is a “Summer” blend and a “Winter” blend. CARB’s decisions and mandates do not require voter approval, or even legislative approval.

Ethanol alcohol is made from corn. This serves as a subsidy for farmers and raises food prices.

While any refiner can produce the “CA Blends,” this requires a shut down and reconfiguring of their systems for each formulation. This increases costs significantly. It also tends to bar entry from out of state producers. Naturally, the transportation costs will further burden out of state production.

The Democrat Party wants fossil fuels to become prohibitively expensive to fight “Global Warming,” the warming that stopped in 1998 (Google: “Global Warming Pause.”) The alarmists call it the “Pause” as they claim it has to return! Consider that the ‘infallible’ computer models failed to predict the “pause.”

Refinery owners cite that CA’s adverse environmental regulations and taxes have made refinery operation unprofitable. This has so far caused a number of CA refineries to close and leave their vast build-outs behind.

Loss of CA production capacity:

Valero Benicia: 170K barrels per day (BPD) Planning to close

Benicia city manager addresses Valero's 'intent' to close refinery 9 min

Phillips: 135K BPD Planning closure

Phillips 66 shutters Los Angeles refinery days after Newsom adds new regulations #shorts 2 min

Chevron 240K BPD Closed

Marathon LA 365K BPD Planned Summer closure