ENB Pub Note: This article is from America OutLoud, by Ronald Stein and Mike Ariza. Both have been on the Energy News Beat Podcast, and we recommend reading their work.
California is the 4th largest economy in the world and an “ENERGY ISLAND that is separated from the other 48 continental States by the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges. There are no pipelines over these prestigious mountains to California. ALL of California’s transportation fuel demands have been made by the California refineries to support the huge fuel demands of the State:
- Diesel: Diesel fuel is the second largest transportation fuel used in California, consuming 10 million gallons/day for Diesel to support the State’s highway transportation and trucking of products from 3 of the busiest shipping ports in America.
- Jet fuel: With all 145 airports, including 9 international airports and 30 military airports, the demand is 11 million gallons/day for Jet fuel. Several of those airports have direct pipelines to local refineries. In 2019, California consumed 16.7% of the national total of jet fuel, making it the largest consumer of jet fuel in America.
- Gasoline: With its 36 million vehicles, California is the second-largest consumer of motor gasoline among the 50 states, consuming 37 million gallons/day of gasoline, just behind Texas.
- Bunker Fuel for the ships in three of the busiest Ports in America, located in California, consumes about 1 million barrels of bunker fuel annually.
- The Port of Los Angeles had more than 1,800 vessel arrivals in 2024, which includes cruise and merchant ships.
- The Port of Long Beach handled over 9.6 million container units in 2024, indicating a very high volume of ship activity, plus cruise ships.
- The Port of Oakland, which also handles significant cargo volumes, contributes to the total number of cruise and merchant ships needing fuel.
Thus, if in-state refineries cannot manufacture the transportation fuels in-state, they must come from somewhere. In ALL the United States ONLY California imports transportation fuels from foreign countries to fill the void of refinery closures, to meet the demands of the 4th largest economy in the world.
As stated by Chevron CEO Andy Walz during an Ashley Zavala KCRA 3 interview on March 6, 2026: “I am extremely worried! I do believe we should declare a state of emergency in the state of California.”
Countless millions of families in California, Nevada, and Arizona are suffering financially. 40% of California’s transportation fuels were being imported from countries like South Korea, China, India, and Singapore. With the onset of the war in Iran, these Asian refineries lost their primary source of crude oil. They can’t make the products that their countries need. This forced these Asian countries to discontinue shipping their fuel to California.
The effects of this are clearly spelled out in a document dated April 15, 2026, from USC Professor Mische and Professor Rector from Berkeley titled “California Gasoline Supply Outlook: A disaster in the making.” In this document, the professors write, “These Asian refiners” (notably India and South Korea) curtailed most exports as of March 15, but the corresponding decline in arrivals to California has only just begun due to shipping times of 25 – 45 days across the Pacific Ocean.
Over the next one to two weeks, gasoline imports are expected to drop off sharply, reflecting cargoes that were never loaded or diverted. This will mark the point at which the import shock becomes fully visible in terminal supply and, ultimately, at the gas pump.”
Currently there is another scenario unfolding that has the potential to bring serious consequences to the West Coast. To help understand this, we will once again quote CEO Andy Walz. He recently stated: “If you close a refinery, it doesn’t come back. Closing a refinery is not a reversable decision, so if we close, we do not come back”.
This was in response to a question that Ashley Zavala from KCRA 3 asked him about a recent letter that Chevron submitted to the state. Chevron, along with PBF and Marathon, all dispatched letters to Governor Newsom and the California Air Board stating that they were seriously looking at shutting down their refineries and leaving the State. This was in response to new Cap and Invest amendments that the state proposed. If adopted as is, it would have increased their fees by hundreds of millions of dollars while overseas refiners pay nothing. When asked specifically in the same interview about the possibility of Chevron shutting down, Mr. Walz replied: “If they add this burden of a tax on our refineries, I think it’s just a matter of time. It’s not whether or not they’ll close; it’s just when.”
The following are direct quotes from all three corporation letters:
- Andy Walz (Chevron): “The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry to the misguided program.”
- PBF Energy: “Unless CARB puts in-state refineries on an equal footing with importers… we will be forced to address the viability of our in-state operations, along with every other refiner in the state.”
- Marathon: “CARB’s proposal would further widen the cost disparity, forcing refineries to reconsider whether refinery operations in California remain viable… net effect will be an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions [by relying on imports with lower environmental standards].”
CARB did make some changes to its new amendments based on the letters from the oil corporations.
However, on July 1, Communities for a Better Environment sued CARB for the changes that they made, asking the court to invalidate the regulations and require CARB to complete a new review before adopting them again.
It is important to note that if these corporations shut down their refineries, California will lose six of the remaining seven that are currently online. California would need to import from foreign-based refineries:
- 11 million gallons of aviation fuel every day
- 36 million gallons a day of gasoline
- 10 million gallons a day of diesel
- And about 1 million barrels of bunker fuel annually for merchant ships
The resulting loss of jet fuel would cause thousands of flight cancellations, likely resulting in multiple airport closures. At this point, California’s 30 military bases would not have the jet fuel that they need to maintain operations.
The resulting loss of diesel fuel could lead to dire consequences. Cities only have 3 to 5 days of food supply on hand at any time. A substantial loss of diesel in California could easily result in a logistical collapse of the food supply chain. The port of Los Angeles will shut down. In a week to ten days, cities will begin to run out of food. This supply chain collapse will cascade into Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, and into the nation’s Heartland.
It is time for our governor, democratic legislature, and air board to step back and look at the big picture. California, Nevada, and Arizona are in serious trouble. Cap and invest policies are crippling the state. It’s past time for Governor Newsom and state legislators to make courageous and correct decisions to get us out of the debacle that we are in. If they cannot, then the only choice will be for the President to invoke the Defense Production Act on behalf of the military and citizens of California.
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