With two oil refineries already shut down thanks to California’s anti-energy “climate change” laws making the cost of refining increasingly non-profitable, California is desperate to hold on to another refinery, Valero, whose Benicia plant is slated to shut down in April of 2026. Lawmakers are negotiating the possibility of essentially subsidizing the plant (paying for the cost of their regulations) to the tune of $80 million minimum, $200 million max.
California Lawmakers Squeezed Refineries Out, Now Scramble To Pay One Well-Known Company To Keep Theirs’ Running – dailycaller.com
Source Link
Excerpt:
After years of enforcing stringent regulations that helped force major refineries to close, California Democrats are now reportedly considering paying Valero millions to keep a San Francisco-area fuel plant afloat.
With two major refineries already scheduled to shut down and strict regulations in place, concerns about California’s already high gas prices have become a top issue for lawmakers. According to a Bloomberg report Tuesday, sources familiar with the private deliberations said lawmakers have discussed whether to pay Valero between $80 million and $200 million in state funds to keep its Benicia refinery operating.
The Benicia plant is slated to close by April 2026. The proposed payment would be earmarked for routine maintenance, one of the largest costs for refineries, Bloomberg reported.
When asked about the report and how the state has handled the refinery closures, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told the Daily Caller News Foundation it had no information to share.