The war in Ukraine and resulting ban on Russian oil imports has prompted renewed efforts to stem surging gas prices, with state lawmakers urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to suspend gas taxes and to bring oil to Californians from already existing wells in Kern County instead of foreign countries.
Under Newsom’s emergency executive authority, which Democrat lawmakers voted to retain this past Tuesday, the governor could immediately order tax relief, Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, told the Northern California Record.
“If he signs that executive order today, gas prices would immediately drop for Californians tomorrow,” Grove said.
Californians pay almost $1.20 in taxes and fees and suspending the highest one – the excise tax – would cut the price per gallon by 51 cents, Grove said.
“In the meantime, we have to increase our supply,” Grove said. “Californians use roughly 1.8 million barrels of oil a day; there are thousands of wells already there in Kern County, and we could produce more of that oil here.”
Even as Newsom has directed the state to phase out oil extraction and to stop issuing permits, California continues to import oil from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and is now the single largest importer of oil from Ecuador, where oil drilling has led to destruction of the Amazon rainforest and a lawsuit by indigenous people to stop the development.
“Here we have stringent environmental laws and regulatory processes in order to drill,” Grove said. “You could produce it here, and we wouldn’t have to worry about bringing it from other countries that are number one -- hostile to us – and number two – have dismal human rights violations and horrific environmental policies.”
President Joe Biden has recently announced more oil could be imported from Venezuela, but a decision hasn’t been finalized.
Over time the energy industry has emerged as a leading economic source for the region and state; in 2019, Kern County produced almost 10 million barrels of oil a month.
Kern County is located in southern California. Bakersfield is the county seat.
“Since Newsom has been in office, we've actually reduced production by 130,000 barrels a day and imported more from other countries,” Grove said. “But there’s 1,000-plus permits gathering dust on CalGEM’s desk and also 55 UIC projects, some about four years old, which would represent about 2,500 new wells in existing fields.”
CalGem (California Geologic Energy Management Division) data shows no Well Stimulation Treatment Permits have been approved since the first quarter of 2021.
After President Biden announced the U.S. would ban oil imports from Russia, Grove wrote to Newsom, asking for resumption of oil production here.
“I implore you to support our in-state producers who can quickly ramp up local production if permits would be processed in a timely manner. I ask that you take a bold stand on this issue, send a clear message to Putin and other corrupt foreign regimes, and support California’s energy security,” the letter states.
Despite the Newsom administration’s emphasis on electric vehicles, California’s oil and gas consumption has not decreased, Grove told the Record. Before the ban, California was getting about 50,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. Kern ranks 7th in the nation for oil-producing counties and provides two-thirds of California’s oil supply.
“I don't think it's an about face on his environmental policy – he's very adamant on environmental issues – but what he has failed to understand is instead of using our tax dollars to fund countries like Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, producing energy in California, specifically in Kern County, is better than what he's doing now,” Grove said. “And he could be a global, national, and a California hero because he's actually producing oil.”
Grove stressed that using Kern County’s thousands of acres of existing oil fields is far more pragmatic than pulling resources from the Amazon rainforest.
“In the near term the governor needs to suspend the gas tax immediately, under his executive authority which he has every right to do – it’s one-man rule, he’s had it for two years – so that Californians across this state have immediate relief at the gas pump,” Grove said. “And then we need to look at seriously producing oil and gas energy here – instead of foreign countries that don't have any regulatory requirements or have dismal human rights violations.”
Grove also has introduced legislation that would upgrade penalties for human trafficking, a bill evoking more urgency given the more than 500 human trafficking arrests made here during Super Bowl week – and the added danger of Ukrainian refugees falling prey to human traffickers.
SB 1042 would reclassify human trafficking as a serious or violent felony, subject to California’s Three Strikes law.
“Only in the state of California, with Democrat soft-on-crime policies, would you ever imagine that human trafficking – the buying and selling of another human being – is not considered a serious and violent felony,” Grove said.
The bill is scheduled to go before the Senate Committee on Public Safety on April 5.
“Serious and violent felonies should be a strike – you should not be able to negotiate down your prison sentence – and if you do it a second time, you should have a second strike and have an enhancement on your prison sentence,” Grove said.
District attorneys from San Luis Obispo, Kern, Alameda and many other counties are urging passage of SB 1042.