California Governor Newsom has positioned the state to be a national security risk for the entire USA

• Renewables are incapable of making aviation fuel for commercial, military, and private planes.
• Renewables are incapable of making any gasoline for the States' 30 million vehicles.
• Renewables are incapable of making diesel fuel, the second largest fuel used in California.
• Shockingly, renewables themselves cannot exist without the parts and components that are made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil.

In October 2024, Phillips 66 announced that it would close its Wilmington-area refining complex this year, which will further reduce the state's gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuels production capacity, wiping out more than 8% of the state's crude oil processing capacity. Losing another 1.3 billion gallons in annual gasoline output will only worsen the state's supply challenges. With the upcoming closure of the Phillips 66 Refinery in Californiain 2025, the state will obviously be importing less crude oil, but instead, will be importing fuels manufactured in China.

Asia is the region with the greatest number of future petroleum refineries. As of 2021, there were 88 new refinery facilities in planning or under construction in Asia for manufactured gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuels used by every transportation infrastructure, and the military, as well as the manufactured oil derivatives that are the basis of most every product being used by mankind.

Importantly however, California may not have the necessary port capacity, coastal storage, pipelines, or refinery facilities to support a continued shift in the gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel supply chain toward imports, and that would exacerbate California's port pollution problems. Herein lies a massive flaw in Newsom's crusade to shut down in-state oil production: California may not have the infrastructure to meet demand with imported fuels. Californians should be alarmed. After all, Newsom is demanding a dramatic shift in the fuels supply chain, but we may not have the necessary port capacity, coastal storage, pipelines, or refinery facilities to execute it.

Fuel prices in California are quickly getting out of control. The California Energy Commission warned in August 2024 that the state lacked the refining capacity necessary to meet fuel demand. When you restrict supply and prices go up, the people who are hurt the most are low-income.

At the end of December 2024, a gallon of gas in California cost $4.46 on average. Of that total, Californians paid $1.20 in state and local taxes and fees.

In 2025, amendments to the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) come into effect. The LCFS amendments will increase gas prices by 47 cents next year. By 2040, the added cost to the price per gallon could be $1.80.

California Governor Newsom remains unavailable to participate in conversations about Energy Literacy and the educational points to remember that crude oil (products and fuels), renewables (weather dependent generation of electricity), and nuclear power (generation of continuous and uninterruptable electricity) do different things.

If continued, Newsom's shutdown agenda toward oil production and refinery capacity could leave California with no way to process adequate amounts of crude to meet in-state demands for Saudi aviation fuels,gasoline, and diesel– leading to more supply shocks and price spikes that Californians can't afford.

California is a crucial and dynamic part of the United States with immense contributions to the nation, but its current trajectory in energy policy to eliminate fossil fuels, without a replacement to support the supply chain demand for products and fuels made from oil, and focus on "renewables" that only generate electricity, could pose risks that impact not just the state but potentially the broader national security landscape.