California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is completing a flip-flop on oil drilling, which he tried to stop but is now planning to expand in Kern County, thanks to the impending threat of skyrocketing gas prices in the state.
As Breitbart News reported last month, Newsom backed away from his long, climate-change-inspired crusade against oil drilling as refineries threatened to leave the state and prices threatened to rise to $8 per gallon.
In 2021, Newsom had all but doomed the oil and gas industry in Kern County with a moratorium on fracking permits, effective in 2024. “The climate crisis is real, and we continue to see the signs every day,” he said.
But in 2025, Newsom has struck a compromise with the oil industry that would see the legislature pass a bill that would allow more drilling in central California — and environmental groups are reeling from the change.
Politico reported:
Organizations that started the year with ambitious goals of passing legislation to hold polluting companies liable for climate change damages — fresh off the ballot box defeat of an industry referendum challenging the state’s oil well setback law — instead find themselves making a last-ditch effort with just days left to kill SB 237, a bill backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders that would boost drilling in Kern County.
That shift in momentum towards industry reflects Democratic lawmakers’ fears that the planned closures of two of the state’s nine refineries could send gas prices soaring — just as they’re trying to claw back seats from Republicans in a mid-term election where both parties are trying to claim the affordability champion mantle. And it highlights the political risks of aggressively moving away from fossil fuels without a transition plan in place.
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“It’s one thing to have the sound bites at the ready during a campaign,” said Andrew Acosta, a veteran Democratic campaign consultant. “It’s different when all of a sudden a refinery says, ‘We’re out of here, California.’ That’s where we are now — this is real.”
The Sacramento Bee said: “It’s a significant reversal for Newsom, who sees himself as a national leader on climate and once said he believes “California needs to move beyond oil.”
Newsom also has an eye on a presidential run in 2028, and would likely wish to avoid running as the governor who had allowed gas prices to soar for working families in his state.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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