Decline is a choice

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Beege Welborn has a lengthy post up on HotAir about the demise of the oil industry in California. The entire article is worth reading, but here’s a snippet or two:

California's Black Gold Turning Into Sludge

Beege Welborn:

According to a new report from three distinguished and concerned California resident experts on the subject, the state of CA's fossil fuel industry is so dire, it is, as the California Globe's magnificent editor Katy Grimes puts it, quite possibly 'near the point of no return.'

...California Governor Gavin Newsom is presiding over perhaps the largest energy policy collapse of the oil industry, refinery operations and gasoline production in U.S. history. A momentous report recently prepared by Ellis, Mische and Ariza warned that California’s self-inflicted gas crisis is also a direct threat to U.S. military force readiness on the West Coast, the Globe reported in October.

Their report exposes how Governor Newsom’s energy policies are sabotaging domestic refining capacity and leaving U.S. military bases in the West vulnerable to foreign adversaries like Russia and China.

[snip]

The report, prepared by California Assemblyman Stan Ellis, USC Professor Michael Mische, and petroleum expert Michael Ariza, catalogues Newsom and the legislature's step-by-step dismantling of the entire CA fossil fuel industry, but also highlights with terrifying clarity the consequences of the policies. Without CA's oil and gas industry, the California that exists today would be impossible.

...Arguably, California has the most severe restrictions regulating the oil, refining, and fuels industries in the world. California’s energy policies and regulations have not only resulted in the highest gasoline prices in the nation, and the highest taxes and fees in the nation but have led to the closure of two major refineries which now threaten essential pipelines that provide crude oil and fuel supplies to California’s surviving refineries, civilian markets, and military installations, as well as those in Arizona and Neveda. 

The oil and gasoline industries in California account for around 8% of the state’s GDP…but it is, critically, the first 8% of its overall GDP. Without oil and gasoline, the other 92% would be impossible to attain. Without petroleum, asphalt can’t be made, and steel cannot be produced. Even in a state as environmentally conscious as California, fossil fuels still generate around 40% of all electricity. Without that 40%, there would be no Silicon Valley. Without gasoline and diesel fuels, California agricultural production would be a fraction of what it is today.  

California was once a leading producer and exporter of oil and crude oil products in the world. Much of California’s 20th-century economy was predicated on oil and gasoline production, which, in turn, provided the fuel to support its population growth, agricultural production, the defense industry, and later, the tech industries. Today, California is far from self-sufficient with respect to its energy needs. The state produces less than 23% of its own in-state petroleum needs, and imports over 65% of its crude oil from non-U.S. foreign sources, the largest of which was Iraq over the recent years.  

...Despite being the largest state in the Union and the 4th largest economy in the world, California has no inbound pipelines supplying crude oil, gasoline, or aviation fuels, which amplifies U.S. national security vulnerabilities. Astonishingly, over 95% of California’s inbound crude and gasoline supplies are delivered by maritime tankers, the majority of which are not U.S.-flagged vessels, including tanker ships owned by Russia’s SCF Group and China’s Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation.  

In 1991, there were over 40 refineries in California. As of October 16, 2025, there are eight refineries operating in California with a combined processing capacity of 1.467 million barrels of crude oil daily. That’s down 68% in the number of refineries since 1991. As Chevron President Andy Walz recently noted in a Fox Business interview,  "I think it's been a tyranny of about 25 years to get the refining business to leave California." Consequently, it was not, as some California politicians and agency “experts” assert, that it was by intentional desire or some industry conspiracy that created industry concentration and reduced the number of refineries in the state; it was state regulations and policies that drove the refiners out.  

By April 2026, there will only be seven refineries surviving in California as a result of the two most recent refinery closures (Phillips 66 and Valero). In-state gasoline production will be reduced by at least 6.2 million gallons a day, with progressively worse-case estimates totaling 9.33 million gallons a day. In addition, jet fuel production from Valero will drop by 600,000 gallons a day. By 2035, California refinery production could decline by 35% or more, placing greater pressure on shrinking supplies, increasing consumer prices past $8.00 a gallon, and forcing greater dependency on non-U.S. suppliers for fuels and crude oils and foreign shippers.  

Of course, it’s not just California that’s determined to deindustrialize:

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Economic suicide in Wales