California Governor Newsom Can’t Take A Hint on His Failed Proposed Fracking Ban

April 26, 2021

California Governor Gavin Newsom used his authority to issue an order that would stop issuing fracking permits by 2024 and halt all oil drilling by 2045 in the state. Last year, Newsom said he did not have the authority to ban fracking on his own and looked to the Legislature to do it instead.

Two Democratic State Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Monique Limon of Santa Barbara answered the Governor’s call and introduced a bill that would ban fracking by 2027. As Power The Future previously reported two weeks ago, “Fortunately, some common sense was on display in the legislature this week, when this job killing bill failed to advance out of its legislative committee, effectively killing the legislation that moved to ban fracking in the state by 2027.”

Just as we thought we steered clear of this radical proposal, Governor Newsom threw in his last-ditch effort to push the anti-energy policy state-wide.

The Insurance Journal reports:

Newsom’s order is the beginning of a lengthy rule-making process that, if successful, would make California the largest state to ban fracking and likely the first in the world to set a deadline for the end of all oil production

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Newsom’s order directs the California Air Resources Board to figure out how the state can end oil production in a “very rigorous, open, transparent, analytical process.” The board could decide to do it before 2045, but not after.

This overreaching order blatantly ignores the input from elected officials in the state who represent constituents from every county, who voted to kill the bill in the interest of those constituents. 

But some in Newsom’s own party were critical, including state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from the Central Valley, who said the fracking ban would lead to higher energy prices that would in turn increase food prices.

“The governor’s actions could not come at a worse time for the Central Valley, which is already reeling from a drought that – together with this decision – may cause a national food crisis,” she said.

The eco-elite need to stop pushing policies that will only hurt the American worker, families, and communities. California is the seventh-largest oil-producing state in the country, directly employing about 152,000 people and responsible for $152.3 billion in economic output, according to a 2019 study commissioned by the Western States Petroleum Association. If increased energy prices for American households and energy shortages don’t speak to the eco-left the 152,000 workers in California alone who will lose their jobs should.