Here’s from October 2024
Why Oil Companies Are Leaving California
On October 16, 2024, the refiner Phillips 66 announced that it will cease operations at its Los Angeles-area refinery in the fourth quarter of 2025. This announcement came a few days after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law placing additional regulations on refineries.
The closure will affect approximately 600 employees and 300 contractors that currently work at the Los Angeles-area refinery. Politico reported that this closure would also impact 8% of the state’s already tight gasoline production.
Although Phillips 66 spokesperson Al Ortiz denied in an email to Politico that the closure was a response to Newsom’s signing the new law, California’s treatment of its oil industry has undoubtedly been a factor.
The news follows an announcement in August 2024 that Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, will relocate from its California headquarters to Texas. The company, with roots in California dating back to 1879, will transition its headquarters to Houston over the next five years.
Chevron’s move comes as a response to California’s stringent regulations and aggressive climate policies. Chevron’s CEO, Mike Wirth, expressed concerns about the state’s business environment in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
I still maintain the companies should stop selling their products to the state government of the People’s Republic Of California. Stopping operations in the PRC will increase the cost of energy in the state, and moving operations to other states will deny a lot of tax money. Anyhow, now
California trying to keep oil and gas firms from leaving the state
Following 25 years of what oil and gas executives categorize as hostility to the industry, the state is now making a play to keep those companies from leaving.
Concerned with the exodus of oil and gas companies, refinery closures and the expensive price of gasoline in the state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last week that fast tracks the approval of 2,000 new wells per year over the next 10 years in Kern County, a significant oil-producing region.
But, will the companies actually want to develop those wells, wondering when the other shoe in the PRC will drop, having watched the Democrat operate the past 25 years? Particularly since there are still lawsuits from cities and counties in the PRC? Will they take the chance?
On October 16, 2024, the refiner Phillips 66 announced that it will
Eight months into his second term, President Trump has made a declaration about Ukraine that sounded vaguely like the ones his predecessor, President Joseph R. Biden Jr., used to make. With the right mix of courage, ingenuity and weapons from NATO, he asserted on Tuesday, Ukraine could force Russia to retreat from the territory it has seized in three and a half years of brutal war.
At a climate summit at the United Nations on Wednesday, the vast majority of the world’s nations gathered to make their newest pledges to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.
The Trump administration proposed a 21-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza to Arab leaders on Tuesday, which led to an exchange of ideas among the leaders over how to agree on a final proposal that could potentially drive an end the conflict, according to a senior administration official and regional sources familiar with the matter.
Many parts of the world are predicted to endure “day-zero droughts,” periods of extreme and unprecedented water scarcity, which could happen as soon as this decade in certain hotspots including parts of North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa, according to a new study.
The Department of Homeland Security celebrated on Tuesday that two million illegal immigrants have either self-deported or have been deported since the start of the Trump administration.
International collaboration on climate change is fraying. The Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, the 2015 treaty aiming to limit global warming, and has penalized the renewable-energy business and promoted fossil fuels. Ten years after Paris, a vast majority of countries are not on pace to meet their climate targets. With the United States sidelined and China ascendant as a clean-energy superpower, the global map of alliances on climate action is being redrawn. On top of all this, the planet keeps warming.
When we think about climate change, images of melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and extreme weather often come to mind. But there’s a more personal—and often overlooked—dimension to this global issue: your skin. Yes, the largest organ of your body is silently bearing the brunt of a changing climate. From increased UV radiation to humidity fluctuations, climate change is influencing skin health in subtle but significant ways.
Hamas has declared victory for “the justice of our cause” after Sir Keir Starmer announced Britain would recognise Palestinian statehood.