Senator Shannon Grove sent the following letter to Governor Newsom:
Dear Governor Newsom,
I write to you today in response to your call for a special session to address high gas prices and to apply a windfall tax on the oil industry. Let me start by saying, I am surprised that you act as if you have no idea how gas prices in California can be so much higher than other states, and that you are making outlandish accusations regarding the oil industry. Sir, please see the explanation below to better understand how California has ended up in the unaffordable green nightmare you have created with your fairytale policies:
- California Democrats have created the most expensive operating environment in the United States.
- California has the most hostile regulatory climate in the United States.
- California Democrats have passed policies that have all but regulated refineries out of business in this state, or forced their closure, therefore limiting gas supply.
- When you shut down refineries, force them out of business, and simultaneously limit supply by withholding over 1000 drilling permits, it should come as no surprise that these actions would directly contribute to the increase of fuel cost in California.
- California is the only state that requires refiners and producers to comply with a cap and trade tax. This tax has yielded over 5 billion dollars thus far and is a cost which is passed onto consumers.
- You have stripped California’s domestic stability and made us reliant on hostile nations by forcing us to import more fuel from foreign countries at the expense of our ecosystem due to the extraordinary release of carbon from vessels that bring us the oil this state so desperately needs and consumes each day.
- California refiners must produce a “special blend” of fuel that meets low carbon fuel standards that are not required in the rest of the nation. This “special blend” is more expensive to produce and limits our ability to access fuel from other states.
With isolated markets, an inability to access additional fuel that meets California’s stringent standards, the most hostile regulatory requirements, the most aggressive environmental policies, the extraordinary expense of cap and trade, the highest tax per gallon of gasoline, impossible standards that are not found in any other state in the nation, and limited supply, there is really no need for additional explanation of why California has the highest and most volatile, gas prices in the nation. Simply put, your policies have created this problem and have caused the pain at the pump that is hurting every single California family. In fact, federal judges have continued to throw out cases alleging price conspiracies by the fuel industry finding no basis for the allegations that you continue to levy.
Sir, I may be an Arvin girl born and raised by a single mother but I do not need this simple equation explained to me over and over, and neither does the rest of California. You may try to explain your way out of this crisis by blaming everyone but yourself, but Californians can see a fox explaining what happened to the henhouse when they see it. If you really want to create solutions, reverse the devastating policies you have put in place, ramp up domestic production and make California affordable again.
Considering the solution to this significant issue resides in my own backyard with Kern County oil production, I would be more than happy to walk you through next steps when you are ready to come to the table.