Calif. Gov. Newsom’s refinery rule faces unprecedented reluctance from the green state’s...

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom had hoped to ramrod through the state Legislature a proposal that would severely impact the state’s petroleum refineries. The Democratic governor claimed the measure would prevent oil companies from profiting from the state’s high energy costs, but he’s having a harder time getting the state’s lawmakers on board with the plan as with past rules. California has the second highest gas prices in the United States, and some of the most expensive electricity rates in the world. Newsom denies that his anti-fossil fuel policies have anything to do with it. According to Newsom, oil companies are just greedy.

California has seen the number of refineries operating in the state decline from 43 in 1982 to just 14 this year. Ronald Stein, an engineer and policy advisor for The Heartland Institute, told Just the News that California is dependent on those refineries for its gasoline and diesel supplies, as there are no pipelines to bring in petroleum products from other refineries in the U.S. As a result, if one of California’s refineries goes down, it greatly disrupts the supply chain, increasing costs to consumers and heightening the risk of service disruptions.