With a heavy assist from Legislative Democrats who enabled him, Gas Gouging Gavin Newsom has had a banner week of bad headlines after signing into law his disastrous oil refinery storage mandate that his own administration warned would drive up gas prices and cause shortages. This was an unwelcome development for Californians already paying the highest-in-the-nation gas prices.

Here’s just some of what they are saying (side note: wonder if he’ll mention any of this on the campaign trail in Michigan today… doubt it.):

• CalMatters: “Gov. Gavin Newsom has been gaslighting Californians about gas prices for the last couple of years, bypassing the simple fact that taxes and other mandated costs are key factors in high prices and insisting that refiners are gouging motorists. He never offered proof — nor have legislators insisted that he provide it — before enacting new laws that he says will prevent price spikes.”
• Wall Street Journal: “The truth is that California’s gasoline prices are on average $1.47 a gallon higher than the national average owing to its gas taxes—the highest in the country—and environmental regulations, including cap-and-trade and low-carbon fuel standard. High operating costs have spurred seven California refineries to cease production over the last decade… While Mr. Newsom vilifies Big Oil, voters are starting to figure out that the real prices villains are in Sacramento.”
• Washington Examiner: “California’s contradictions make running any kind of business more difficult, which inevitably leads to the higher prices that the state deals with compared to the rest of the country. Those contradictions only exist because Newsom and his Democratic allies have rushed into a future dreamed up by environmentalists who do not care about people’s lives or livelihoods, prioritizing their zealous dreams over a state that offers a sustainable environment for the people and businesses they need to get through life.”
• Sacramento Bee: “In fact, said independent analysts, Newsom’s new bid to stop price spikes could actually send costs up. ‘In the short run any investment costs to increase storage may actually raise gas prices should those be passed on to the consumer. Oil trades globally and any attempts to fix prices locally may not work,’ said Sanjay Varshney, professor of finance at Sacramento State… And, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, ‘There could be collateral damage. If oil companies have to maintain higher levels (of product), they may have to build new tanks and new infrastructure and rotate through that.’ That would mean new costs, costs likely to be passed on to consumers, De Haan said.”
• CalMatters: “Those representing unionized workers in refineries argue that the legislation would jeopardize worker safety, and if storage requirements are untenable for refiners, closures and large job loss could follow.”
• LA Times: “David Sikorski, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12, called the special session ‘unnecessary.’ His union represents 21,000 workers in California, Arizona and Nevada. He said Newsom’s policy could prove to be a liability to Harris in the neighboring swing states of Arizona and Nevada. ‘We’ve made some real momentum, hit the ground running in Arizona, and we put a lot of resources into getting friendly politicians, and Kamala Harris, elected in that state,’ he said. ‘This is just one more hurdle that we have to overcome with our membership and working people in general.’”
• KOLD News 13: “Arizona state leaders say new California law will cost Arizonans at the gas pump.”
• Politico: “Phillips 66 to close California refinery days after Newsom signed oil law. The facility supplies about 8 percent of California’s gasoline.”
• The Hill: “Phillips 66 to close oil refinery after Newsom law… The Wilmington facility is 105 years old and employs 600 workers and 300 contractors.”
• Forbes: “Ultimately, California can pass whatever laws it wants with respect to its oil industry, but these companies can also respond. That’s what Chevron, and now Phillips 66, have done.”
• LA Times: “The closure is likely to increase California’s already high prices at the gas pump, given that much of the replacement gasoline will be shipped in by ocean vessel, analysts say… Newsom declined to comment.”
• KCRA: “Next, completely separate from the commission’s work, the California Air Resources Board on Nov. 8 will vote on proposed updates to its Low Carbon Fuel Standards. Those new rules will impact the oil and gas industry financially, and those costs will be passed onto customers. Earlier this year, CARB provided a public estimate that it could raise prices at the pump up to 47 cents per gallon starting in 2025. It has since walked back that number but is now refusing to provide an updated estimate weeks ahead of the vote.
• LA Times: “The 47-cent figure that CARB came up with last year was an ‘upper bound’ pass-through estimate. Some forecasters think it will be higher. Climate analyst Danny Cullenward pegs the cost at 65 cents per gallon, and says that figure will rise as state regulations grow more stringent.”

Californians are struggling with an affordability crisis with a new poll finding that more than half of Californians have considered leaving the state due to its high cost of living. But Democrats clearly don’t care, or they wouldn’t have helped Newsom pass this ridiculous law that only makes things worse.

BOTTOM LINE: Dave Min, Josh Newman, Sabrina Cervantes, Jacqui Irwin, Corey Jackson, Sharon Quirk-Silva, Pilar Schiavo and Esmeralda Soria have no business representing Californians if they are this committed to making things more expensive for the people they were elected to serve. And voters know it.