New energy policies in California threatening America’s national security

California's high regulatory burden and taxes have been the basis of corporate business decisions to leave California for more pro-business locations to run a business. The exodus out of California includes such majors as Tesla, Oracle, Chevron, SpaceX, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Charles Schwab, and Yamaha, that have relocated headquarters from California to states with lower taxes and regulations.

An increasingly adversarial policy environment has already contributed to recent refinery closures in California that have significantly reduced U.S. West Coast refining capacity, raising concerns about fuel shortages and price spikes. Key shutdowns include Phillips 66's Los Angeles refinery (late 2025) and the Valero Benicia refinery (scheduled for April 2026), removing roughly 20% of California's gasoline supply.

With no crude oil pipelines over the Sierra Mountains, California, the 4^th largest economy in the world, is an "Energy Island" separated from the crude oil supply, and the infrastructure of oil refineries from the other 49 States. Thus, all in-state California transportation fuel demands for the military, ships, airports, cars, and trucks have staggering numbers FROM in-state refineries.

California's economy faces threats with new energy policy changes as the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the agency responsible for enforcing air‑quality polices in the state-has proposed new limits on greenhouse gas emissions for local businesses. These changes pose serious risks to California's cost of living, job security and reliable supply chains of transportation fuels.

With the California "Energy Island" losing refineries, and CARB tightening the noose further, we'll be losing more CA refineries at the time that the 4^th largest economy in the world NEEDS new refineries to be built IN CALIFORNIA. The recent announcement of a new Reliance refinery in Brownsville in Texas will be useless to the demands on the California "Energy Island". California remains a national security risk to America.

CARB's Proposed Cap-and-Invest Regulation will upend California's transportation fuels market and threaten critical energy and national security assets and raise the price of gasoline, jet, and diesel fuels, impact California jobs, and threaten national security for America.

Transportation fuel supply declines from refinery closures are resulting in steep, sudden declines in production capacity of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, and bunker fuel for the 1,000's of merchant ships serving three of the busiest ports on the West Coast.

Affordability is a top concern for California residents, and these proposed amendments would only exacerbate the high cost of living in the state. For consumers, weakened refinery operations translate into tighter fuel supply, greater price volatility, and higher gasoline prices, particularly during periods of peak demand. Reduced in‑state production increases reliance on costly and slow‑to‑arrive foreign imports that are ill‑suited to respond to supply shocks and carry higher lifecycle emissions.

California's in‑state refining system plays an important role in supporting U.S. energy security, Military readiness, national defense, including military defense installations in the state that could be compromised if this CARB policy is finalized. California refineries supply a broad range of transportation fuels, including aviation fuels that are critical to commercial and military operations, and they operate near major ports, military installations, and strategic hubs serving the Pacific region.

Continued erosion of California's refining capacity risks increased reliance on imported fuels that are slower to arrive, more exposed to global supply disruptions, and less reliable during emergencies or periods of heightened geopolitical risk.

Refinery closures in California reduce fuel supply resilience on the West Coast, increasing risks to military readiness and national security. Maintaining a stable policy framework that supports continued operation of California refineries is therefore not only an economic and consumer affordability issue, but also a matter of broader national security and national defense.

The proposed CARB regulation changes will cripple the survivability of the State's remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire refining industry to this misguided CARB program.