Refineries closing

| June 24, 2025 | 16 Comments

Let’s turn to California – used to be the economic powerhouse of the country, certainly had a reputation as one of the two most car-centric places to be.  But…just as the anti-gun folks find the place Nirvana, the state has become one of the worst to own an internal combustion engine.

To paraphrase Mr. Orwell, “Four stroke good, two stroke bad” helped lead the way, and the most restrictive emissions controls in the country followed. (I remember buying an old car – a ’64 as I recall – when stationed at Monterey and it even had a NOX device on it. That model was YEARS before any significant emissions devices in the rest of the country.

Now, don’t get me wrong – historically California also had some of the worst vehicular pollution around. Flying into Los Angeles was like spelunking in a dirty browngrayyellow cavern that STUNK. The pendulum had to swing, and it did, to where now the skies are at least bearable (at least if they could keep from setting their forests on fire, but that’s another topic.) The problem now is that in pursuit of perfection, the idiots running the state  seem to have forgotten their constituents, or just don’t care.

Two large California oil refineries are shutting down, triggering mounting concerns from state legislators, industry groups and many others.

The Phillips 66 and Valero’s Benicia sites are set to close in 2026. Together, the shutdowns will eliminate nearly 300,000 barrels-per?day of refining capacity — roughly 20% of the total used in the state.

And why, you say? Guaranteed market, high demand…why?

Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson of the Gardena district bluntly described his concern during a recent Sacramento hearing.

“They have said that they cannot do business in the state of California,” Gipson reiterated. “The regulatory agencies have imposed on the refiners of California very stringent regulation that makes it very difficult for them to remain in the state of California.”

Valero attributed its decision to “years of regulatory pressure (and) significant fines for air quality violations,” including an $82 million penalty levied in 2024. Phillips 66 similarly cited business challenges stemming from California’s strict environmental regulations.

With fewer local refineries, the state will rely heavily on imported fuel — both from other U.S. regions and overseas — which would escalate shipping costs and increase emissions from tanker vessels at the ports as well as possibly the other refineries where the imported oil originates (they themselves may not be meeting sufficiently stringent environmental or quality standards).

What do you do to someone who provides an essential product? Let’s piss ’em off!

Each closure risks the loss of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs. The Benicia refinery supports about 400 employees, while Phillips 66 has around 900 workers and contractors. Layoffs will ripple through communities, hurting local economies and tax revenue.

Someone want to suggest they just learn to code instead?

As California’s refineries close, the state stands to gain and lose in different areas. For example, while local air will potentially be cleaner, pollution will increase at ports from tankers bringing in imported fuel.

There may be a boost to clean-energy infrastructure and jobs, along with potential federal or state transition aid. However, the current industry will see large job losses and communities reliant on incomes related to local refinery work may suffer economically.

Yeah, betting enough generating capacity will support all those folks who will need to charge the electric cars they will now have to buy (hope they can afford ’em) – what are the phrases? Betting on the come? Betting on an inside straight? Oh, now I remember – a “fool’s bet.”

Category: Global Warming, Government Incompetence

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Anonymous

Californicated!
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JustALurkinAround

LA’s air quality is greatly affected by geography and that region’s climate. As we know, there’s no singular climate, there are multiple climate regions on earth.

So when anyone says they want to stop climate change, I always ask them, “which one”?

KoB

No surprise the Commiefornia politicians flunked geography. They don’t do well in maff or biology either. It may all balance out when enough people get fed up and move out…or not.

Iffen they’d had of listened to Jed Clampett back in the 60s and built them giant fans to blow the smog out to sea, they wouldn’t have such a problem now. Electing Daisy Moses as smog commissioner would’ve helped too. She’d a had Jethro hunt down all the smogs (small hogs) and served them up roasted with some sweet taters and dandelion greens as vittles. That is…the ones that Elly Mae didn’t make pets out of.

Our very own David musta looked at the dashboard clock caddy-whompus for this thread to have dropped at the time frame it did.

Skivvy Stacker

Is that “very stringent” or “EVERY stringent” regulation possible?

NHSparky

CA has to import power from the PNW and BC in the summer. The transmission lines are maxed out as it is.

Now double the number of EVs and watch the hilarity ensue.

Odie

I believe they also get some of their electricity from the Green River in Wyoming as well.

Speaking of air clarity, when I first arrived at Norton AFB, it was 2 weeks before I realized there were mountains all around San Bernardino. At the time, Big Bear and lake arrowhead had no smog to deal with. 10 years later when driving OTR, I got sent to So Cal, and I was running into smog in Victorville, which is higher elevation than Big Bear, iirc. Either way, L.A. smog had found its way to the desert.

SFC D

My dad was stationed at March in the 60’s, we lived in Riverside. You only saw the San Bernardino mountains during Santa Ana season or fire season at night. We moved to
Idaho when he retired, my 10 year old lungs hurt for a month. I guess they didn’t know what to do with clean air.

Odie

I arrived a year after the Angeles Crest fire. Apparently it was quite something to see.

Some of the civilian “old timers” I worked with told me there was much less “city” and lots more orange and lemon groves that separated the towns until about the early/ mid 70s. Housing developments made more money than oranges or lemons.

A Proud Infidel®™

So now that California’s EV mandate has been killed, they’re setting the State up for at least $10 a gallon gas to still force it on people in the name of the environment.

5JC

It’s not just air quality, Newsome ordered refineries to keep additional stock on hand to prevent price spikes last year. But who would want to build the facilities to do that? California plans to eliminate gasoline powered vehicle sales by 2035. So really it is just harassment.

This is the Biden plan to make fuel too expensive and force a transition to electric vehicles just at the state level.

California has made a major shift to renewables and 58% of the state electricity production is now hydro, solar, wind and geothermal in that order. The rest is NG and nuclear. They also have built huge battery banks to deal with power supply/ demand matching and are experimenting with some clever ways to store energy.

They are getting rid of carbon based fuels one way or another, for good or for ill.

HT3

Its NOT like California has plenty of good ideas like their highly efficient high speed rail that’s 10 years in and still not built….

According to Google: AI Overview
The cost of California’s high-speed rail project is substantial, with the Initial Operating Segment (IOS) projected to cost between $28 and $38.5 billion. The entirety of Phase 1 is currently estimated at $106.2 billion. Construction is underway in the Central Valley, with 119 miles of guideway and 92 structures planned. As of March 2025, 69 miles of guideway are complete, and 52 structures are finished. 

Now imagine relying on the same incompetent assholes to have enough charging stations for 12 million cars/30 million total vehicles? I’m sure the elites in Sacramento will carve out an exemption for the very wealthy to keep their ICE cars while the peasants rely on essentially golf carts that can’t be charged.

A Proud Infidel®™

The CA high speed rail has been a boondoggle from day one, I wonder how much of the money wasted on that has been funneled back to Newsom and Pelosi?

Odie
Odie

Years. Damn auto predict/ auto fill.

5JC

I think the more interesting story is that NYC just told California “Socialism? Ha, hold my beer”.