California Goes Groucho On Gasoline

By Kerry Jackson August 8, 2025 

Editor’s note: This has been excerpted with permission from the Pacific Research Institute. To read the entire article, click here.

What did California officials think was going to happen when they decided it was a dazzlingly brilliant idea to hound the oil industry out of the state? That magic would take over and there would be no consequences for their rash decisions? Apparently, they weren’t thinking at all, because, according to reports, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is looking for a buyer who will take over one of the refineries that’s being abandoned by a company that’s had enough of being beaten up by Sacramento. Their confidence in their crusade to green out the state seems to have been replaced by panic.

To paraphrase the great Groucho Marx, they have values, and when those wreck things, they have others...... By this time next year, there might not be even a dozen refineries left in the state to produce the 38 million gallons of California’s boutique blend that’s consumed every day. ................To continue reading, click here.

•  South American cold underscores role of oil and gas - August 8, 2025 by Vijay Jayaraj - In July, a bone-chilling cold wave swept across South America, plunging nations like Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay into an energy crisis that laid bare the fragility of their power systems. Record-low temperatures, driven by an Antarctic air mass pushed electricity grids to the brink, forced governments to ration gas, and left thousands without power for over a day.

  This brutal winter exposed a stark truth: South America’s energy infrastructure, strained by poverty and uneven development, cannot afford to gamble on unreliable sources like wind and solar. For nations striving to lift millions out of poverty by boosting economic growth, abundant oil and gas offer the only practical path to surviving harsh winters and securing a prosperous future..............To Read More

 

 

Will the Real Oil Profiteer Please Stand Up?

June 16, 2022 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

At the risk of understatement, big government has a dismal track record of imposing higher costs on the private sector, both directly and indirectly.

 

Which is why this cartoon definitely belongs in my mock-government collection (along with this one and this one).

Simply stated, free markets produce efficiency and lower costs while government produces inefficiency and higher costs.

So it was particularly galling that President Biden is engaging in demagoguery against oil companies. Peter Baker and Clifford Krauss of the New York Times report on a letter that he sent to some of their CEOs.

President Biden chastised some of the largest oil companies for profiteering off surging energy prices and “worsening that pain” for consumers… With the average price of gas in the United States topping $5 a gallon for the first time, Mr. Biden pointed the finger at energy firms in a letter to seven top executives… “At a time of war, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable,” Mr. Biden said in the letter.

The trade association for the oil industry got the chance to respond and noted that the federal government is hindering energy development.

Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, countered that the administration shared the blame for higher energy prices and called for approval of new drilling leases and approval of “critical energy infrastructure” like pipelines.

I’m sure the Biden Administration has not been helpful, but I want to make a bigger point.

If the President wants to know who “profiteers” from the energy industry, he should look in the mirror.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here’s a chart of federal gas taxes over time.

But Uncle Sam is not the biggest profiteer.

Almost every state government grabs even more every time we fill up. Here’s a map from the Tax Foundation.

Let’s close by acknowledging that the official position of both the Democratic Party and the International Monetary Fund is that higher energy prices are a good thing.

P.S. From the archives, here’s some gallows humor about energy prices.

 

North Dakota to build first U.S. oil refinery in 30 years

 By Rebekah Rast

http://netrightdaily.com/2012/10/north-dakota-to-build-first-u-s-oil-refinery-in-30-years/

America hasn’t seen a new oil refinery built in 30 years. That is until this upcoming year, when North Dakota will begin construction on a $400 million refinery.

Nine years ago, North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes asked the Department of Interior to put land in a trust for the building of this refinery, which will be used to produce feed for the tribe’s buffalo herd.  Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Oct. 10 that the tribe will have control of the land and may begin constructing the refinery next spring.

Given the timing of this announcement, weeks before the presidential election, it begs the question was this decision politically motivated on the part of Team Obama or just mere coincidence?  Tribal Chairman Tex Hall told the Associated Press that the refinery will process about 20,000 barrels of oil daily into diesel fuel, gasoline, jet fuel, propane and naptha, as reported by Bloomberg Businessweek.  To Read More......

My Take – Since I follow all of this stuff I think that everyone knows that no refineries have been build in the U.S. since the 1970’s.  Most don’t have a clue.  In 1975 the population of the U.S. was around 250 million and we had over 300 refineries.  We now have a population over 300 million and only a little over 150 refineries.   Why? 

Because the greenies and a corrupt and complicit EPA have done everything in their power to prevent construction via lawsuits.  As soon as one lawsuit hurdle is overcome they present another one.  Worse yet, they keep coming up with new ways to close those that are operating.  It is kind of like a SLAPP suit, which isn’t necessarily based on winning, but based on creating such a huge expense their opponents simply give up.  Eventually it gets so expensive they simply stop trying.  So one really does have to wonder how this happened?   The EPA is to the green movement as Sinn Fein is to the IRA.