Newsom’s Climate Policy Backfires

Newsom is better looking that Gov Fatzo. In fact even better looking that Hochul!

Newsom’s Climate Policy Backfires

As refineries close, California is importing more foreign oil.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

Feb. 20, 2026 5:34 pm ET

The Phillips 66 Company's Los Angeles Refinery Bing Guan/Reuters

Gov. Gavin Newsom this week took a victory lap in London after signing a climate deal with the United Kingdom. California, he said, “is the best place in America to invest in a clean economy because we set clear goals and we deliver.” Yes, behold how Mr. Newsom’s climate policies are delivering higher energy costs, fewer jobs, and even more CO2 emissions.

Phillips 66 announced this month it is laying off 277 workers at its Los Angeles refinery as it winds down operations there. Valero Energy plans to shut down a Northern California refinery this spring, which will cost hundreds of more jobs. All told, California has lost roughly a quarter of its refinery capacity since Mr. Newsom became Governor in 2019.

Refiners say the state’s burdensome regulations—e.g., its cap-and-trade program, low-carbon fuel standard and threatened tax on “excessive” gross margins—make it uneconomic to operate older facilities. As a result of refinery closures, California is having to import more gasoline at higher cost from abroad, including—get this—from the Bahamas off the East Coast.

California’s refined fuel imports have increased by more than 30% compared to late 2019, according to the Energy Information Administration. The top sources are Canada, South Korea, Japan, India and the Bahamas. Why doesn’t California get its gasoline from the energy-rich U.S. Gulf Coast? Because the state lacks pipelines to the region and the 1920 Jones Act requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on American-built, -owned and -operated vessels.

There are few Jones Act-compliant oil tankers in the world. However, some Gulf Coast shippers have devised a nifty Jones Act work-around that involves a circuitous route through the Bahamas. The ironic upshot of the state’s anti-fossil fuel regulations is higher CO2 emissions from all that transport to get the oil to California. In case Mr. Newsom doesn’t know, most oil tankers run on petroleum-based fuels.

All the while, Californians are paying $1.67 a gallon more for gasoline than the national average. Then again, maybe higher gas prices are Mr. Newsom’s goal because he wants to force his citizens to buy electric vehicles, no matter their cost and his state’s skyrocketing cost of power.