The Venezuelification of California continues

Just as President Nicolas Maduro has declared Christmas will start in October for Venezuela , Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is trying to declare that California ’s legislative session should extend into September. In his special session, Newsom wants to pass legislation that would only further government control over the state’s oil and gas industry. Venezuela achieved full government control over its oil industry decades ago.

California already has the highest gas prices in the country, thanks to the nation’s highest gas tax, environmental regulations that require a unique gasoline blend, a cap-and-trade regime that raises costs on refineries, and state bans on oil production that require almost all oil to be imported from out of state.

Instead of recognizing that it is these laws that are causing the price of gas to skyrocket, Newsom and the Democratic Party want to blame greedy oil companies, as if the same corporations that operate in other states suddenly get extra greedy when they cross California state lines. “Gas prices are up,” Newsom admitted earlier in his term. “That’s because greedy oil companies are ripping you off. They are raking in record profits at your expense.”

To combat this oil company greed, greed that he seems to think uniquely affects the companies' treatment of California, Newsom wants to pass legislation empowering the California Energy Commission to issue new regulations detailing minimum fuel-reserve requirements for each specific refinery. Newsom said this would help avoid short-term supply shortages that cause gas price spikes. Newsom claimed that if this legislation had been in effect in 2023, it would have saved consumers $650 million.

Chevron, a company that also has to deal with Maduro’s socialist government in Venezuela, responded to Newsom’s proposal with a scathing letter politely pointing out that Newsom has no idea how to refine oil anywhere, especially in California.

“This bill creates safety risks by giving the CED, an unelected body with no refining experience or expertise, unbridled authority over details of maintenance and compliance work,” the letter from Chevron President of Americas Products Andy Walz read. “The physical, operational, and cost burdens to sustain unnecessary inventory are also a concern. Building just one new storage tank can take a decade and cost $35 million. These costs would likely be passed onto the consumer.”

In other words, instead of lowering gas prices as Newsom intends, his costly new regulations would only raise prices as oil refineries invest in new storage facilities to meet the new mandates. At that point, Newsom will, of course, blame corporate greed again, not new regulations, for California’s high gas prices, leading to Newsom calling for even more intrusive regulation of the state oil industry.

Until Newsom and the Democratic Party realize it is their regulations, not corporate greed, that are causing the high gas prices in California, the state will only seize more and more control over its oil industry until it is fully socialized as it is in Venezuela.

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California Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire is refusing to honor Newsom’s call for a special session. Unfortunately, this is not a principled stand against Newsom’s effort to control the state’s oil industry further. McGuire has already promised he has the necessary Democratic Party votes lined up for that.

No, McGuire’s refusal to respond to Newsom’s call for a special session seems entirely geared toward embarrassing Newsom, who seems irrelevant and powerless now that Vice President Kamala Harris, not Newsom, is the one who replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. We would cheer more for Newsom’s demise if those Democrats seeking to replace him were in any way less socialist than he is. Unfortunately, they are not.