by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
Newsom’s new government agency can arbitrarily decide how much profit oil and gas businesses are allowed to make
In March, 2023 the California Assembly jammed SBX1-2, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Gas Tax, through an expedited hearing, pretending that was enough exposure to the public, and debated the bill and voted on it.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Gas Tax created a new panel of unelected bureaucrats with subpoena power, to investigate oil and gas companies, impose penalties, new costs and regulations, which would inevitably lead to gas shortages, rationing and price spikes. The bill created a new government agency to arbitrarily decide how much profit oil and gas businesses are allowed to make, disrupting California’s energy market and threatening the reliability of the state’s fuel supply, according to Assembly Republicans.
The Globe has addressed Gov. Newsom’s claim that oil companies “are ripping you off. Their record profits are coming at your expense.” Newsom leaves out the part where in 2021 he largely killed hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in California as part of his overall plan to end oil extraction. He also announced his action to halt issuance of fracking permits by 2024.
The governor described his scheme as “a new independent watchdog within the California Energy Commission charged with monitoring California’s petroleum market on a daily basis to ensure market participants play by the rules.”
