Marathon Petroleum Archives

Marathon Petroleum

December 2, 2024

Postcard from California: Two refineries to close but fenceline communities still besieged by pollution

By Bill Walker

Next year, people in Wilmington and Carson, Calif., neighboring communities in south Los Angeles County, will breathe a bit easier thanks to a decision by Phillips 66 to shut down its gasoline refineries in those communities by the end of 2025.

For more than 100 years, the twin refineries – five miles apart and connected by a pipeline – have emitted air pollutants that increase cancer risk, trigger asthma and other respiratory illnesses, form toxic smog, and lead to heart attacks and strokes. They emit millions of tons each year of climate-heating greenhouse gases, which also contribute to respiratory problems.

California is not usually thought of as an oil state, but it ranks third in the US in crude oil refining capacity. Hundreds of thousands of Californians are exposed daily to pollution from gasoline refineries. Most are people of color who live in lower-income industrial suburbs where refineries are clustered, but too often are kept in the dark about what happens inside the refinery gates.

As the state moves toward its legally mandated goal of virtually eliminating fossil fuel use in 20 years, and electric car sales continue to rise, more refineries are likely to close. Meanwhile, fenceline communities continue to pay the price for our dependence on gasoline.

Wilmington, with 53,000 residents, is part of Los Angeles. Carson, population 91,000, is its own city. About 90% of Wilmington residents are Latino, about 60% of Carson residents are Latino or Black, and both are state-designated disadvantaged communities.

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.”