He says he's not backtracking, just advancing in a new direction:
“"That's not rolling back anything. That's actually marching forward in a way that is thoughtful and considered..."
—Governor Gavin Newsom via KCRA-3 Television, Sacramento, July 4, 2025
From Politico, August 4:
How Big Oil got Gavin Newsom to change his tune
California Democrats are scrambling to boost gasoline supplies in the wake of planned oil refinery closures.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom spent the last four years provoking the Big Oil boogeyman. Now, it’s haunting him.
Newsom’s casting of Big Oil as the villain behind the state’s perpetually high fuel prices signaled the industry’s waning influence in Sacramento. But the plot took a dramatic turn for the governor and his party when two refineries in the state announced closure plans.
“Refineries all across the globe are struggling,” Newsom said last month in unveiling a suite of proposals to keep refineries solvent, including holding talks with potential buyers and offering incentives to boost in-state oil drilling. “We’ve got some challenges, and so just require some new considerations.”
The about-face is emblematic of Democrats’ course correction on cost-of-living issues in the wake of the presidential election — and provides a real-time demonstration of the political risks of pursuing an aggressive transition away from fossil fuels.
“The reality is, if those refineries close and we have increased gas prices, it’s going to be a problem for everybody,” said Andrew Acosta, a veteran California Democratic campaign consultant. “Not just Gavin Newsom, but every Democrat running for office.”
Democrats are grappling with that reality as they attempt to claw back voters from President Donald Trump and Republicans in an acknowledgment that conservative messaging that blue-state officials are out of touch with daily life has stuck. And while recent polling in deep-blue California shows voters still want their leaders to fight climate change, the state is not immune to this dynamic.
It represents a departure from a wave of enthusiasm around progressive climate policies that Newsom was stoking as recently as a month before the presidential election.
“They have been raking in unprecedented profits because they can,” Newsom said in October while signing a bill requiring refiners to store more gas to prevent shortages, a concept the industry warned would backfire. ”They’ve been screwing you for years and years and years.”
But then a fifth of the state’s gasoline refining capacity started drying up. Phillips 66 announced in October that it would close its Southern California refinery by the end of 2025. Valero followed suit in April with the planned closure of its Northern California facility in 2026.
Fast forward to earlier this month, when Newsom announced he was taking action to stabilize in-state oil supplies. “It’s not rolling back anything — that’s actually marching forward in a way that is thoughtful and considered,” Newsom told reporters in July, after his administration proposed steering clear of the oil-profits cap the governor had championed as a way to keep refineries open.
Newsom spokespeople pointed to the governor’s comments during a Thursday press conference where he called the approach “completely consistent” with the state’s climate agenda, which has “always been about finding a just transition.”
He also touted a 2023 law that requires oil refiners to provide data about their operations, saying it tipped off the state about Valero’s closure plan.
“We would not have had that benefit of having information in advance, which has given us a year to begin the process of figuring out what to do,” Newsom said.
But oil companies’ unexpectedly hasty retreat from the Golden State is forcing officials to reckon with their awkward transition away from gas that until now has largely been theoretical. And it has created a real threat for Democrats if they fail to respond adequately heading into the 2026 midterms after cost-conscious voters resoundingly returned Trump to office last year.
Even some environmentalists are having second thoughts....
....MUCH MORE
Previously:
May 14 -"Why California Drivers Could Soon Pay $8 A Gallon For Gas"
This one includes the USC Marshall School of Business paper that paints a rather grim picture.
Related:
May 9 -"California gas prices soar after one of Bay Area's few refineries catches fire"
April 17 - "Valero books $1.1 billion impairment, may idle California refinery" (VLO)
Moving closer and closer to the dream of mass transit Cali. and/or 'You will own nothing' and enjoy walking.*
Previously:
October 19, 2024 - "Oil company Phillips 66 says it will shut down Los Angeles-area refinery" (PSX)
October 29, 2024 - Valero Could Be Next To Shutter California Oil Refineries
In other words: "Drop off the key, Lee", "Hop on the bus, Gus," "Make a new plan, Stan...." (apologies to transit planner Paul Simon)
*But maybe it's just me."The problem is all inside your head"
She said to me
"The answer is easy if you
Take it logically"