The future of California’s energy infrastructure is fragile

The Net Zero emission goals of California government leaders, including Governor Gavin Newsom, cannot ignore the fundamental reality that wind turbines and solar panels ONLY generate electricity.

Beyond chemistry, hydrocarbons underpin physical mobility.

• Diesel powers heavy logistics: trucks, mining equipment, construction machinery, rail, and agricultural systems.
• Aviation depends almost entirely on jet fuel.
• Global trade relies on bunker fuel for ships.
• Military mobility, tanks, aircraft, naval fleets, and supply chains, remains inseparable from liquid hydrocarbons due to their unmatched energy density, storability, and reliability.

Electrification has yet to demonstrate credible substitutes for these domains, especially under conditions of conflict, disruption, or extreme demand. We must have an "all of the above" energy solution.

Renewable electricity, by contrast, is structurally narrow. Wind and solar generate electricity, and only electricity, intermittently. They do not produce molecules, fuels, or industrial feedstocks. They depend on weather, geography, and extensive material inputs, many of which are themselves derived from fossil fuels and geopolitically concentrated supply chains. Storage solutions remain costly, scale-limited, and technologically immature relative to the scope of modern energy systems. It doesn't mean they are not important, they are, but they have limitations.

Will it always be like this? Probably not, but it's the current reality.

Hospitals and the entire medical industry, transportation mobility, national security, and the health and well-being of millions in California and billions on this planet, will suffer from the transition to wind turbines and solar panels as those so-called renewables only generate electricity, but CANNOT support that supply chain of the thousands of products demanded by doctors and hospitals, i.e., the more than 6,000 products and transportation fuels that are made with petrochemicals manufactured from crude oil, coal, or natural gas.

Current CA mandates for transitioning from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EV's) would only eliminate gasoline used in ICE vehicles, which is only 1 of the more than 6,000 products made from fossil fuels. EV's, the ICE vehicle, continues to be 100% made from those oil products, inclusive of tires, computers, wiring and insulation, and all the electronics of what are termed "zero emissions" vehicle.

Shockingly, no one CAN explain how wind turbines and solar panels can make any of the other 5,999 products that are now made from oil that we see in operating hospitals, airports, offices, shopping centers, datacenters, etc. In addition, our government leaders CANNOT explain how those renewables will support the merchant ships, cruise ships, commercial aircraft, and military aircraft on this planet, that did not exist 200 years ago?

Raw crude oil is virtually useless until it's refined into usable derivatives and fuels. Policies cannot be only focused just on the "supply" side of the equation and continue to force California, the 4^th largest economy in the world, to be the only state in contiguous America that imports most of its crude oil demands from foreign countries. California crude oil production is in terminal decline, driven by the lack of drilling permits, despite ample reserves. That dependence on foreign importshasincreased imported crude oil from foreign countries from 5 percent in 1992 to more than 70 percent today of total consumption demand.

In 2025, significant refinery outages were driven by planned maintenance, unplanned incidents like fires, and permanent closures, particularly in California. reducing capacity. Permanent refinery closures are impacting the State in perpetuity with the closure of the Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery, a 139,000-barrel-per-day refinery that was closed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The immediate future is not looking much better with the Valero Benicia Refinery, a 145,000-barrel-a-day refinery slated for closure in early 2026.