California

Opinion | California Adds Fuel to a Gasoline Refiners’ Fire

Published

1 year ago

April 2, 2023

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Opinion | California Adds Fuel to a Gasoline Refiners’ Fire

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks on March 28, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif.

Picture:

Xavier Mascareñas/The Sacramento Bee/Related Press

A majority of Californians inform pollsters they don’t need Gov.

Gavin Newsom

to run for President. Perhaps they assume he’s pushing harmful progressive insurance policies to advertise his nationwide ambitions, such because the legislation he signed final week to punish oil refiners.

The legislation establishes a brand new state paperwork empowered to cap gasoline refining earnings. If refiners’ earnings exceed the cap, they may pay a penalty, which can go right into a particular fund that legislators might use to “deal with any penalties of worth gouging on Californians.” It is a fund for Democrats to purchase votes.

Refiners might be required every day to show over proprietary knowledge so the state can examine alleged fuel-market gaming. Irony alert: A leak of this confidential data would allow market gaming. The aim of the legislation appears to be to deflect political duty for the state’s excessive gasoline costs, that are brought on by local weather guidelines and taxes.

Gasoline costs in California common $4.83 a gallon, which is $1.34 greater than nationwide. When costs within the state surged above $6 final autumn, the distinction was $2.50. Democrats in Sacramento order an investigation into “price-gouging” every time fuel costs soar above their normal inflated ranges. However the investigations by no means flip up nefarious conduct.

That’s as a result of excessive fuel costs are brought on by state insurance policies. Taxes add about 66 cents to the worth of a gallon in California, about twice as a lot as in different states on common. California’s cap-and-trade program and low-carbon gas customary add one other 46 cents a gallon. These regulatory prices are rising because the state tightens its CO2 emissions requirements.

California additionally requires a particular “clear” gas mix that provides one other 10 to fifteen cents a gallon. Few refiners outdoors of California produce this distinctive mix. Many older refiners within the state are shutting down due to the excessive price of regulation. Some are changing to producing biofuels, that are extra worthwhile owing to federal and state subsidies.

The state misplaced 12% of refining capability between 2017 and 2021 and is ready to lose one other 8% by the tip of this 12 months. This implies California has a really tight gas provide. Every time a number of refineries have issues or endure upkeep, costs spike. That’s what occurred final autumn.

But Democrats accuse refiners of colluding to squeeze provide and inflate earnings. There is no such thing as a proof of this, however Democrats insist they might show misconduct with extra knowledge. Their new reporting regime and penalties will enhance refiner prices, which can invariably be handed onto customers. A revenue cap can even discourage refinery funding and will trigger extra to close down. Democrats know greater costs would be the results of their new legislation, which is why they’re punting implementation to a brand new paperwork.

True to type, Mr. Newsom is touting the legislation as a nationwide prototype. “I hope this can be a sign to different states and leaders throughout this nation and across the globe that we are able to see the long run,” he stated. Which is why so many Californians are seeing their future elsewhere.

The week’s greatest and worst from Kim Strassel, Mene Ukueberuwa and Kyle Peterson

Appeared within the April 3, 2023, print version as ‘California Provides Gas to a Refiners’ Hearth.’

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California

4-year-old California boy found safe after spending night alone in wilderness

Published

49 mins ago

June 21, 2024

Press Room

4-year-old California boy found safe after spending night alone in wilderness

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. — A 4-year-old boy from Torrance, California was found safe Friday morning after he spent the night in the wilderness in Fresno County, California.

Christian Ramirez went missing Thursday morning from a campground.

Search teams found him Friday about a quarter-mile from where he disappeared.

SEE ALSO: 2 capital murder suspects were arrested by Border Patrol and released before Texas girl’s death: ICE

Ramirez was hungry and tired, but otherwise found in good condition. He was reunited with his parents.

It’s still unclear exactly how he got separated from his family, but authorities said it appeared he wandered off while they were at the campground.

KFSN-TV contributed to this report.

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California

An Interview with Retired California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye

Published

8 hours ago

June 21, 2024

Press Room

An Interview with Retired California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye

Tani Cantil-Sakauye was the 28th Chief Justice of the State of California. The first Asian Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice, she is the current president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Before sitting on the panel for “What Makes a Great California Idea?,” part of the inaugural CalMatters Ideas Festival, Cantil-Sakauye joined us in the green room to talk about humor, mediation, and the “Sackamenna Kid.”

In this event description, we referred to California as Tomorrowland. If you could create any land, what land would it be?

I would call it Opportunityland, and I would like it to be a place where people could try out new things, find who they really are, find their passions and their talents instead of finding out too late, or never finding out at all, or being wistful that they had tried something else.

Can you give us an example?

I was a lawyer at a time when there weren’t a lot of female prosecutors in the courtroom. And I was standing by the elevator once, and the lawyer said to me, Cantil, it looks like you’re gaining weight. And I said to him: you should talk, you have seven hairs on your head and four are loose. And so, we are friends to this day, but I always felt that insulting attorneys going into trial about their hair sort of took them off balance.

What have you learned as a mediator about navigating conflict?

It takes a while, and it requires multiple steps along the way and then an assessment of how the steps are going with talking to them. So for me, and for contemporary mediation, we meet in separate rooms. It’s about getting to know not necessarily the lawyer, but the client of the lawyer. I think it’s a lot of listening and empathizing, and truly understanding and standing in the shoes of who they are, their experiences, and how it’s feeling to them now.

Was there a journalist that you particularly admired growing up?

I’m old enough to remember and appreciate Herb Caen, who wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was from Sacramento, but he was basically, professionally, in the Bay Area. And he was called the “Sackamenna Kid.” He wrote about current events and insights into politics with humor, and he had his own column. While I was aware of all the other news, Herb Caen was the piece of paper that I would always grab and read. I didn’t understand most of it, frankly, because it was all political insider stuff. But he did it in such a humorous way that was pithy and funny but meaningful; so that was what I remember. When I was growing up, there were like three TV stations. There wasn’t cable. There wasn’t streaming. There wasn’t internet. There wasn’t anything. There was like one or two newspapers, and that was it. So you know, you made your joy wherever you could find it.

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California

Want to move to Nevada? California-based class teaches how

Published

15 hours ago

June 21, 2024

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Want to move to Nevada? California-based class teaches how

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to Nevada since the pandemic, and a class helps Northern California residents make informed decisions before the leap to relocate to the Silver State.

The class is titled “Exit Strategies for Leaving the Bay Area,” offered by Campbell Adult & Community Education in San Jose. Realtor Punam Navalgund created the class in 2019 and tells FOX5 that the concept was born out of necessity by a demand from clients.

“It was me hearing a need from home sellers to make more informed decisions about making their move,” Navalgund said. “There are people from all walks of life, people looking to retire, people who want to raise a family somewhere else where the cost of living isn’t as high as it is here in the Bay Area. It’s people who have a lot of equity in their homes, who aren’t really sure how much they’re going to have left at the end of the transaction,” she said.

Navalgund said students have moved to states such as Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Texas, Florida and Georgia, but Nevada remains a popular relocation destination.

“We help people build a support team here locally, as well as in their destination. So whether that’s looking for lawyers, looking for real estate agents, looking for tax professionals, financial planners, I really want people to feel secure about making that decision,” she said.

According to data from the Lee School of Business at UNLV, 355,088 people moved from California from 2020 to 2023 and 148,939 people were from California. Data came from licenses surrendered to the Nevada DMV.

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