How California can relieve its self -created oil and gas crisis

By Michael Micha, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

California legislators have just adopted legislation in support of the oil and gas industry in an attempt to reduce consumers costs. Below a business professor says the package is a delayed but also a partial approach to such a critical problem. Opposition: An environmental scientist claims to facilitate the drilling of oil will not reduce gas pricesS

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Time matters, and California runs out of it. Sacramento legislators must act to deal with the fuel crises and state accessibility.

Since 2001, gas prices in California have increased by 162%. We pay around 43% today more than the average for the countryAnd this figure would probably be far higher if it was not for record household oil production.

Unfortunately, this tail will not continue. Although raw oil prices have fallen by 19% since January, California costs and taxes have increased, now approximately 26% of the price of retail gasoline. And with the highest state excise duty of a gallon in the country, California makes several times more than a typical retailer for the same gallon sold gas.

Plains and rhetoric aside, the truth is that California stares in a short -term shortage of gasoline led largely than In anticipation of closing two refineriesThe highest operating costs in the country and decades of decline in the country. What these fuel challenges have not led is a giant demand. This has and will continue to lead to a Greater dependence on foreign fuelLarger emissions, increased exposure to global instability and ultimately an increase in prices that Californians pay for the fuel, which feeds the fourth largest economy in the world.

We are confronted with choice: on one side, the status quo suggests that California’s economy can work without oil soon. On the other hand, it is a growing recognition that accessible energy is essential for economic stability and national security.

After spending years demonizing the oil and gas industry and blaming the refineries in California in the detachment of consumers, governor Gavin Newo admits that “we are all beneficiaries of oil and gas”, “” under heavy pressure To prevent a complete energy crisis. At the end of the legislative session last week legislators and governor reached an agreement to increase the production of raw oil in the country.

If we take care of our climatic purposes, we should also be interested in where our gasoline comes from. In 1982, California imported about 6% of its oil needs from foreign sources; Today, Golden State imports about 64% of different oils. Delivery, finished with a thousand miles, can mean a raw material obtained from higher emissions and greater supervision than California.

This is more pollution, less transparency, less leverage for the United States -and yes, higher pump prices.

None of this is necessary and most of this is not self-created. California has one of the most uncomfortable oil reserves in the country and some of the most advanced technologies, the best trained work forces and the most secure manufacturers in the world. NEWSOM administration’s recent movements to relieve bureaucratic bureaucracy and allowing challenges Who forced us to import two -thirds of all our raw materials quietly admits so much.

We need to use the resources we have today as we continue to build the clean energy system on tomorrow.

We should also recruit the regulatory stack for costs. On July 1, the state raised the gas excise duty and Updated standard with low carbon fuelThe State Program for Reduction of Greenhouse Gases. A layer on the cost of infrastructure, depreciation, new mandates for storage, modernization of refinery to change the raw mixtures and the lagging effects of LCFS loan. If we take care of accessibility, let’s appreciate it honestly and show mathematics.

Finally, justice must be both fiscal and morally sound. California gas tax – approximately 61 cents per gallon – pays for the roads we all use. In the meantime, EV drivers do not pay the tax, but still use the same infrastructure. As EV increases, the difference in revenue expands. In a state that is proud of equity, it is a fair decision to stop subsidizing the EV owners on the shoulders of other drivers and to be accepted more righteous Road fee based on EVS mileage This reports miles and the weight of the vehicle, which better reflects the wearing of roads.

Newsom’s long overdue recognition for a pending crisis of gasoline and prices, with the actions of the legislative power at the last moment-start, but also a partial approach to dealing with a critical problem.

As the next step, the legislature must consider the cancellation of regulations limiting the production and use of the pipeline in more counties, to evaluate the powers of the agency’s bureaucrats, which impose higher prices on the backs of the Californians, and a new regulatory strategy that will provide more highly business environment.

This ultimately means more fuel security and the price for consumers in California.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.