California, the fourth largest economy in the world, is growing its dependence on transportation fuels made from refined crude oil at foreign refineries that is becoming a national security risk for America.
California has closed two refineries, and more closures are eminent as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is tightening up the regulations on emissions that may drive the remaining seven refineries in the state to exit California.
The following subjects and logical questions are intended to provide television and podcast moderators interviewing candidates who hope to lead—whether as mayor, governor, House of Representatives, the Senate, or president, who are aspiring to articulate thoughtful responses so voters will have a clear sense of whether that person possesses the level of energy wisdom needed for national leadership:
- Wind and Solar: Wind turbines and solar panels, the foundation of the zero-emissions debate, only generate electricity but cannot make any products or transportation fuels for life as we know it. Since the world as we know it has become dependent on the products and transportation fuels created crude oil, the same products and transportation fuels that wind and solar cannot make. Question: Why is there pressure to stop exploration, production, and the use of raw crude oil?!
- Crude oil: Crude oil is useless black tar, unless you build a multi-billion-dollar refinery to break it down to produce various types of transportation fuels like jet fuel for planes, diesel fuel for trucks, gasoline fuel for cars, and bunker fuel for ships, and the oil derivatives that are the basis of more than 6,000 products in our materialistic world. With California being the world’s fourth-largest economy in the world, it continues to consume a gargantuan 48 million gallons of transportation fuels daily (these include jet fuel for 40 military airports and nine international airports, three grades of gasoline for its 30 million vehicles, and diesel for the trucking and construction industries). Currently, California has three letters in its possession from Chevron, Marathon, and PBF. All three letters state that these oil giants are seriously considering shutting down their refineries and leaving the state. This is unprecedented in history. It will cripple the state. Question: Why is the governor’s office and unelected air board continuing to pressure these companies with regulations so egregious that they finally drove these oil corporations to write these unprecedented letters and why is there pressure to overregulate the seven remaining refineries in California to the point that they are ready to leave the state?
- California Refineries: California is an energy island separated from the other 49 states by the Sierra Mountains. There are no pipelines over those mountains. As more in-state refineries close, the state must import its transportation fuel demands for aviation, diesel, gasoline, and bunker fuels for the ships entering three of the busiest shipping ports in America at Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland from overseas refineries. The refineries located in foreign countries do not have the same stringent emission standards as the refineries in California. In fact, some of those overseas refineries would be classified as gross polluters in California. Once the transportation fuels have been produced, they must be transported across the Pacific Ocean in tankers, some taking as long as 45 days to transit the ocean. Once in California, these tankers will remain in our ports for anywhere from three days to as much as two weeks. The state governing bodies make the claim that they want to promote zero-emissions! Question: Why has California abdicated our fuel production to these gross polluters and why the pressure to overregulate the cleanest refineries in the world to the point that they are seriously considering leaving California?
- Electricity: Electricity came about after oil. Today, the six ways to generate electricity are by coal, natural gas, hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar. All the components for generating electricity such as wire, insulation, computers, etc., are made from fossil fuels. Question: Why is the pressure to rid the world of crude oil as it would eliminate electricity and we’re back to the 1800s?
- Products made from oil: The world populated from one to eight billion in less than 200 years, not from that black tar we call crude oil, but from the more than 6,000 products and transportation fuels made from fossil fuels. Today, we’re a materialistic society. Wind and solar cannot make EVs, or any of the products or fuels that get made from fossil fuels that support such as: Hospitals, airports, militaries, medical equipment, telecommunications, communications systems, space programs, appliances, electronics, sanitation systems, heating and ventilating, transportation – vehicles, rail, ocean, and air, construction – roads and buildings, and nearly half the world’s population relies on synthetic fertilizers made from fossil fuels. With the help of hospitals, doctors, and medications, life longevity increased from 40 to 75+ during those 200 years. Question: Why the pressure to eliminate the exploration of crude oil and the elimination of refineries as that would set us back to the pre-1800s?
- The Defense Production Act: The Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 confers upon the president a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry in the interest of national defense. The authorities can be used across the federal government to shape the domestic industrial base so that, when called upon, it can provide essential materials and goods needed for the national defense. Question: With California refinery closures placing the state in a position to import more jet fuel from refineries in foreign countries to support the demands of the 40 military bases in California, do you support the president to implement the Defense Production Act?
- Transportation: Planes, ships, trucks, and cars do not run on electricity generated by wind turbines or solar panels, nor do they run on raw crude oil, they run on transportation fuels manufactured from crude oil by multi-billion-dollar refineries. In addition, for the more than 6,000 products now used in our society, it’s the refineries that manufacture oil derivatives from raw crude oil that are the basis of the products in our materialistic world. Question: Why the pressure to overregulate the cleanest refineries in the world that are still operating in California to the point that they are seriously considering leaving the state?
- The word energy: Coal and natural gas are used for the generation of electricity, but crude oil is never used to generate electricity. Crude oil is useless black tar, unless you build a multi-billion-dollar refinery to break it down to produce various types of transportation fuels like, jet, diesel, gasoline, and bunker fuel for ships, and oil derivatives that are the basis of more than 6,000 products in our materialistic world. Wind turbines and solar panels only generate electricity. Question: Since wind and solar do different things than crude oil, why do you support the use of the word energy from wind and solar when they only produce electricity, but make no products or transportation fuels for our materialistic society?
- Clean Energy Exploitations: The Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations” describes the humanity atrocities among folks with yellow, brown, and black skin, and the environmental degradation occurring in poorer developing countries like China and Africa for exotic lithium and cobalt to build EV batteries so that the wealthy countries can go green. Question: Do you believe it’s unethical and immoral to financially encourage China and Africa to continue exploiting people and inflict environmental degradation on those developing counties, just so wealthy countries can go “green”?
All the above “logical” questions are the ones that California political leaders avoid answering to the 40 million citizens of the state, as it would expose their lack of energy wisdom for the directives that they continue to support.
Ronald Stein, P.E.
Ronald Stein is an internationally published columnist and energy consultant, and a policy advisor for The Heartland Institute.
