Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

California is One Refinery Closure Away From an Economic Collapse
Frontpage mag ^ | February 17, 2025 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 02/18/2025 3:30:59 AM PST by george76

"No pipelines exist to feed gasoline in from other states."..

If you thought that the LA wildfires exposed just how mismanaged California is, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Russia. China. Venezuela. Iran. More than a dozen countries make gasoline at state-owned refineries.

Could California be next on the list?

Let’s see what do all of those places have in common? Tyrannical regimes. Miserable lives for much of the population. High levels of migration. Radical politics. Sure, California belongs on that list.

California policymakers are considering state ownership of one or more oil refineries, one item on a list of options presented by the California Energy Commission to ensure steady gas supplies as oil companies pull back from the refinery business in the state.

Have a state that hates oil and couldn’t make money selling drugs (literally) run oil refineries. What could go wrong?

Already, two California refineries have ceased producing gasoline to make biodiesel fuel for use in heavy-duty trucks, a cleaner-fuel alternative that enjoys rich state subsidies. More worrisome, the Phillips 66 refinery complex in Wilmington, just outside Los Angeles, plans to close down permanently by year’s end.

That leaves eight major refineries in California capable of producing gasoline. The closure of any one would create serious gasoline supply issues, industry analysts say. But both Chevron and Valero are contemplating permanent refinery closures…

California is known as a “gasoline island” lacking the kind of multistate logistics network through most of the continental U.S. that can help alleviate supply shocks. No pipelines exist to feed gasoline in from other states. Ocean shipments from the refinery-rich Gulf States are restricted by an antiquated federal law known as the Jones Act…

Further complicating matters: the special blends of gasoline required in California. Those required formulations have gone a long way toward reducing air pollution. But they also drive up gasoline prices and raise the risk of shortages, because little such gasoline is produced outside California.

Insurance companies are fleeing California. Refineries are fleeing California. Californians are fleeing California. But there’s enough people in the state that a major energy crisis is entirely plausible.

It’s not hard to find $6 a gallon gas in the state, but that could just be the beginning.

And the Democrat super-majority has lots of plans for getting all the remaining refineries to flee California.

The options list is disparate: Ship in more gasoline from Asia; regulate refineries on the order of electric utilities; cap profit margins; and many more.

The list was due to be transformed into a formal transition plan by Dec. 31, 2024, but six weeks later no plan has been issued. Therefore, it’s not yet clear what the state response will be if another refinery announces a shutdown this year or next.

Tell everyone to buy Teslas. Take over the refineries. It worked so well in Venezuela that what used to be a petro-power can’t even run refineries. But that’s okay. California will hire only transgender ex-cons of color, tax the product as much as possible and then blame the subsequent disaster on global warming.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; War
KEYWORDS: california; energy; fuel; gas; gasoline; isolated; jonesact; oil; oilrefineries; phillips66refinery; pipelines; refineries
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

1 posted on 02/18/2025 3:30:59 AM PST by george76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: george76

They can join Germany in Bankruptcy Court.


2 posted on 02/18/2025 3:37:52 AM PST by anton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

They won’t build a pipeline to Texas so they must import oil by rail over the mountains. (Spoiler alert - that doesn’t work.) Or, they have to import the majority of their oil from international sources and pay extras.


3 posted on 02/18/2025 3:44:09 AM PST by MMusson ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: anton; george76

Do all of you people live in CA because I see SO MANY posts about it...and NY...do the rest of you live in NY??

Cause IDGAF what happens in places I don’t live unless of course it’s a natural disaster or something.

AND DON’T TELL ME YOU FOLLOW THE NEWS BECAUSE YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR FELLOW AMERICANS IN THOSE STATES :)

You altruists :)

No, I THINK on some level it makes folks feel better about their own lives and their own states.

And if it does, then i’m all for it.

It’s good therapy to point at other places and say “This is wrong, not like where i live!”

Only hitch is that a LOT of red states GET more than they GIVE to the fed govt.

You think your little small town stores pay the govt bills?

NO, tech in CA and finance in NY do.

And it’s a SHAME that both states SUCK.

I never said they didn’t. They do..

It’s just I don’t read news so devotedly to places like CA, where i dont live.

have a good one


4 posted on 02/18/2025 3:49:08 AM PST by dp0622 (Tried a coup, a fake tax story, tramp slander, Russia nonsense, impeachment and a virus. They lost.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: george76

Let them collapse.

Seriously it is time for real pain and the consequences of the voters choices to set in at full force.

No Fed aid AT ALL for CA and No assistance in any form until CA government and the voters can figure out how to govern properly.


5 posted on 02/18/2025 3:50:21 AM PST by Skwor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Unfortunately, we in Phoenix are riding along.
Our gas comes from CA.


6 posted on 02/18/2025 3:50:58 AM PST by AZJeep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

>> That leaves eight major refineries in California capable of producing gasoline. The closure of any one would create serious gasoline supply issues, industry analysts say. But both Chevron and Valero are contemplating permanent refinery closures…

I wonder how to lobby Chevron and Valero to follow through and close those refineries...

I simply don’t see any way to bring Kommiefornia to the light except to cause massive pain to its clueless voters and tie it directly to policies and people they voted for.


7 posted on 02/18/2025 3:59:22 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

This is why consequences exist, so people learn. It is why God doesn’t come to the rescue when we are determined to ignore consequences.


8 posted on 02/18/2025 4:06:13 AM PST by Jonty30 (Groundhogs don't falsify their predictions for grant money, whereas climate scientists do. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

That is because you do not understand that we in fly over country will have to pay for all CA’s nonsense. And, we won’t get a diesel car or aV8 pick up truck or a decent lawn mower because CA has banned all good products in CA and what manufacturer will want to make products that they can’t sell to 1/3 of the US.


9 posted on 02/18/2025 4:15:05 AM PST by anton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: dp0622; anton

These are also good examples in many cases of WHY you fight against the nose under the tent in your own state as soon as its spotted. Kali went from electing Ronald Reagan governor twice to a state where a gay whore like Newsom is the only filthy type of scum that can get elected. View these stories as ‘don’t let this happen to you’ and it might help.


10 posted on 02/18/2025 4:49:43 AM PST by L,TOWM (An upraised middle finger is my virtue signal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: dp0622
It’s just I don’t read news so devotedly to places like CA, where i dont live.

Free Republic, LLC
PO Box 9771
Fresno, CA 93794


A big thank you to Jim Robinson, keeping up his good work from behind blue lines.

11 posted on 02/18/2025 4:56:00 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: george76

Bkmk


12 posted on 02/18/2025 5:04:41 AM PST by sauropod (Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you. John MacArthur Ne supra crepidam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Selling Kalifornia to Denmark sounds better everyday. Hell, we should throw in Oregon and Washington too. Sweeten the pot so to speak.


13 posted on 02/18/2025 5:23:55 AM PST by bigfootbob (Arm Up and Live Free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Every time a government takes over an industry, it fails because the mission changes from making an affordable product to enriching the political operatives who are running that industry.

See PDVSA (Venezuela) and PEMEX (Petroleos Mexicanos).


14 posted on 02/18/2025 5:28:56 AM PST by Texas resident ( We finally have an American President again)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

California don’t need no steenking refineries!


15 posted on 02/18/2025 5:29:10 AM PST by Tom Tetroxide (Psalm 146:3 "Do not trust in princes, in the Son of Man, who has no salvation.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Dear CA voters,
A republican president got your water running again. A republican president can get your gas moving again.
Don’t you think it is time to reconsider your unfortunate habit of electing democrats?


16 posted on 02/18/2025 5:30:11 AM PST by 13Sisters76 ("It is amazing how many people mistake a certain hip snideness for sophistication. " Thos. Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skwor

A lot of the problem with Kalifornia, especially Southern Kalifornia is the same problem that plagues Oregon and Washington, systemic voter fraud. The architect of Washington’s all mail in balloting scheme moved to LA after he built Washington’s.

We haven’t had a clean election in 2 decades on the West Coast. With conservatives fleeing in record numbers, I don’t see it changing until like another poster commented, when they join Germany in Bankruptcy Court. Even then it might not be enough.


17 posted on 02/18/2025 5:33:05 AM PST by bigfootbob (Arm Up and Live Free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: george76

Corporations closinf refineries should disable them in such a manner the state of California cannot nationalize and restart them


18 posted on 02/18/2025 5:33:18 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Where is ZORRO when California so desperately needs him?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Kali is no longer an economic powerhouse. It has $225 billion in revenues with $55 billion added debt for 2025.


19 posted on 02/18/2025 5:37:05 AM PST by CodeToad ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bigfootbob

Exactly, until it fails hard it will not change. So no more aid of any kind.


20 posted on 02/18/2025 6:12:16 AM PST by Skwor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson