Marathon, Chevron, PBF Warn Governor Newsom of Widespread Refinery Shutdowns, Fuel shortages, Economic Collapse

With Marathon Petroleum sending a blistering warning to Governor Gavin Newsom and top state officials in a letter declaring that proposed amendments to the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Cap-and-Invest program would destroy whats left of California oil refineries, that makes three severe warnings by the state’s remaining petroleum companies.

Last month, PBF Energy warned that if the CARB amendments are enacted as written, they “will inevitably drive in-state refining capacity to zero.”

Last week, Chevron called the amendments a “death knell” for remaining facilities, forecasting gasoline prices rising more than $1 per gallon by 2030 and threatening to shutter its Richmond and El Segundo refineries.

And, while media continues to obfuscate on rising gas prices, blaming them on the Iran conflict, let us remind you that gas was already up .80 cents before the Iran warfare.

This is from AAA Feb. 2026:

This is yesterday:

This is today:

And this is from Dec. 11, 2025:

The Valero refinery in Benicia is already down, and has been since January 31, 2026. Media keeps reporting it will close in April, but the only thing still in operation, is the wastewater treatment plant, the dock, and a couple of areas of tank farms.

With the three oil company letters hitting Governor Newsom’s desk in less than a month, the proverbial organic substance should be hitting the electric wind machine any time now. But it’s crickets… even Newsom’s Rapid Response team is strangely silent.

The seriousness of three petroleum companies warning that proposed amendments to the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Cap-and-Invest program (cap and trade) would make California refineries “among the most expensive refineries to operate in the world,” threatening widespread shutdowns, fuel shortages, skyrocketing prices, and massive economic damage, should warrant an emergency legislative session, at minimum, called by the governor.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has taken a great deal of liberty, particularly with its interpretation of AB 32. The CARB devised the cap-and-trade system whereby it holds a quarterly auction program requiring selected California employers to bid significant amounts of money for the privilege of continuing to pollute — or be faced with closing their doors.

California’s cap-and-trade program places a “cap” on aggregate greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and utilities deemed “polluters” by the California Air Resources Board, which the CARB says are responsible for most of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. And do not forget that CARB’s cap and trade program Western Climate Initiative Inc. was registered in Delaware, and not in California.

Oil and energy companies have been warning California’s Democrat lawmakers for many years, but the climate change was just a bright shiny object distracting lawmakers from their due their due diligence on the potential for economic devastation if they actually ran oil and gas out of the state – especially when California has all of the oil and gas we need, and plenty to sell.

Remember, Gov. Newsom tried to claim for the longest time that the state’s highest-in-the-nation gas taxes and prices are not what led to dramatically spiking gas/oil prices but because of price gouging by the oil industry. In May, Newsom even signed a gas price gouging law into place.

He’s silent on that front now. While Governor Newsom touts his “success” on national and international stages, he is presiding over perhaps the largest collapse of the oil industry, refinery operations and gasoline production in U.S. history.

California is now importing over 70% of its crude from foreign sources, and 30% of that is from the Middle East. Why?

The question should be, why hasn’t someone in the media asked the governor that question. And the answer is not “climate change.”

Gov. Newsom, the Legislature and State Air Resources Board have been working hand in glove to restrict the availability of oil and gas and increase the cost of gas at the pump so severely, middle class and working class drivers will be making choices between groceries and fuel for the car, if they aren’t already.