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September 20, 2023

Postcard from California: State takes on Big Oil for decades of climate lies

By Bill Walker

California fired its opening salvo against the oil and gas industry two years ago, with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and trucks after 2035. In April, the offensive escalated, as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) ordered a phaseout of diesel trucks and locomotives starting in 2036. The state opened another front in June, establishing a watchdog agency to investigate gasoline-pump price spikes and recommend fines for oil companies deemed guilty of gouging customers.

Now the state has dropped its biggest bombshell yet: a monumental lawsuit against five of the world’s largest petrochemical companies for their “decades-long campaign of deception” about the harm of their products to the planet’s climate, and the disastrous and costly impacts of the climate crisis on California.

The 135-page lawsuit, filed last week in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges that Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP (formerly British Petroleum) knew since the 1950s that burning fossil fuels would heat up the climate with devastating consequences, but covered up the truth instead of alerting the public. The suit also names as a defendant the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry’s trade association. The defendants are accused of fraud, negligence, product liability, false advertising and creating a public nuisance.

“Oil and gas companies have privately known the truth for decades — that the burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change — but have fed us lies and mistruths to further their record-breaking profits at the expense of our environment,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release. “From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused.”

February 23, 2023

Postcard from California: Governor targets oil companies over high gas prices

By Bill Walker

Last June, a Chevron station in downtown Los Angeles charged $8.05 for a gallon of regular gas. At another Chevron station In the coastal village of Mendocino, the price that month hit $9.60.

In a summer when US gas prices spiked to their highest level ever, those were extreme outliers, and they soon came down. But as they have for years, Californians continue to pay higher gas prices than in any other state except Hawaii.

This week, the statewide average was $4.75 a gallon, compared to the nationwide average of $3.39. At one point in October, even as global oil prices dropped, California’s average gas price surged to $2.60 more than the nation’s.

Some of the difference stems from the fact that state gas taxes are the highest in the US, and some from state rules for California’s special blend cleaner-burning fuel, which is more expensive to refine. But that leaves what University of California, Berkeley energy economist Severin Borenstein calls a “mystery gasoline surcharge” that can’t be fully explained by taxes and environmental regulations. He estimates that since 2015 the surcharge has cost California drivers $40 billion.

On Wednesday, lawmakers in Sacramento took up a proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom that would make California the first state to fine oil companies for what he terms gas price gouging, and to return their excess profits to consumers.

In a video release promoting his plan, the Democratic governor declared: “Big Oil is ripping you off AND lying to you!”

“Big Oil’s been out there pushing the same old lies and myths to protect their record profits,” Newsom said. “Big Oil won’t say why they suddenly started charging Californians more than people in other states, but we know that resulted in record profits.”