‘Green News Report’ – May 2, 2023

9 Comments on “‘Green News Report’ – May 2, 2023”

1. Desi and Brad,

   Please help me, if you can, locate a key number/percentage I seek.

   There are numerous spots on TV from an obviously corporate-based source (Californians For Energy Independence) which imply that California’s decrease in drilling has resulted in higher gas prices in CA, and that increasing drilling in CA will bring gas prices down.

   I know that CA has strict pollution requirements that result in California refining ALL of its gasoline here in the state.

   But here is the fact I seek:

   How much of the oil that is drilled *here in California* is refined for sale and use within the state?

   I have searched and searched and cannot find this number (perentage) anywhere.

   This is a key fact, IMO, and will reveal the degree of hypocrisy in those TV spots.

   Thank you for any response.

   DonL

2. DonL:

   I don’t have an exact percentage either, though Desi said she would check with Kassie Siegel of Center for Biological Diversity, with whom we discussed related issues on our April 10, 2023 show. She may respond to your question here as well.

   I’ve also seen those commercials, and it’s obvious that they are largely bullshit.

   For now, I think we can glean a few things about the question you’re asking from this recent article (that I believe we covered on air?) from Grist:

   The fact that the state’s five refineries export at least 3 percent of their product from a market with the nation’s highest prices (even after accounting for taxes) indicates that there’s not a shortage, said Robert McCullough, an economist who has studied energy markets for decades. Other estimates put California’s gasoline exports at above 20 percent.

   So, it’s really not a matter of gas being expensive here because we don’t drill enough of it.

   There is much more to that end in the article, including a “mystery surcharge” that the oil industry ADDS to the price of CA refined gas. The piece speaks, in general, to some of the (good) questions I believe you’re asking here.

3. Thanks very much for the response!

   I’ll check out that article.

   That key stat/percentage I seek (amount of California-drilled oil that is refined in CA), if it is findable, should tell the final naked truth about those claims.

   Another issue—–If the number is not findable, is that somehow intentional?

4. Seeking is easier than finding, and finding is easier than understanding what was found.

   I suppose that we are not “meant” to understand some things (MetaSUB – 5).

   Where there is smoke there are fumes (Smoke & Fumes).

5. DonL @3:

   Well, it might be intentional on the part of that Fossil Fuel Industry group masquerading as “Californians For Energy Independence”. If they are the ones making the claims, their website should have a link to the source of the claim. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t.

   Otherwise, I don’t think it’s a matter of CA somehow trying to hide those numbers. It may not be something that they previously tracked, which is just another reason why that new CA law that I spoke about with Kassie Siegel last month may be important. It will mean that CA tracks what the oil producers are doing much more closer, so we know when they are unlawfully price gouging, etc!

   But, as we can ascertain from that Grist article I linked, if CA is actually *exporting* oil, that means we do not have a shortage here!

6. For example:

   “Every month, Occidental and Chevron directly pump 2.63 times more toxic waste water into the San Joaquin Aquifer than oil released into the Gulf during the entire BP spill. The California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) plans to allow them to continue for another 21 months. This lawsuit brought to stop the poisoning of the San Joaquin aquifer and to remediate the damage already done to the farmland of Kern County.”

   (What Next, Mass Depraved-Heart Murder?).

7. Oil companies and guns——The freest things
   in America.

   🙁

8. Hi, Don — We received a reply for you from Kassie Siegel at Center for Biological Diversity with some new info on your query:

   The oil industry’s attempt to blame the state’s groundbreaking and life-saving health and safety protection laws instead of the industry’s own price gouging for high gas prices is absolutely reprehensible.

   While virtually all oil produced in California is refined here, California’s the ongoing long term, ongoing production decline is unrelated to today’s gas prices. You can see this from these two charts: production decline and source of crude oil to California’s refineries. Note also that about 10% of gasoline refined in California is now exported.

   Oil production in California has been in long term steady decline since 1986. The decline is not due to policy, it is due to geology. For over 150 years, until very recently, oil operators have been allowed to drill at will in our state. The easy oil and the better oil is long gone. Industry now needs to use more energy, more toxic chemicals, and do ever more damage to our health and climate, to get an ever decreasing amount of lower quality oil.

   Health and climate protections are not the cause of the long term, terminal decline of California oil production. But these protections are absolutely essential to limit the additional harm that the oil industry will do on its way out the door.

   Industry’s claim that “decreased in state oil production” is causing high gas prices is a direct attack on SB 1137 (2022, Lena Gonzales), the health and safety setback law, and it is a direct attack on the communities of color that are disproportionately harmed by the filthy, dangerous neighborhood oil drilling that has happened here for far too long.

9. Thanks for the valuable info!!!!!

   As expected, oil companies are lying scum.

   DonL

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