Economies run on transportation, thus logical questions to California political leaders that will expose their Energy Literacy.
Ronald Stein, P.E. is an engineer, columnist on energy literacy at America Out Loud NEWS, and advisor on energy literacy for the Heartland Institute and CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.” He is also the recipient of an unsolicited Tribute to Ronald Stein from Stephen Heins.
Mike Ariza is a US Navy veteran with over twenty years of experience in the refining industry. His refining experience extends from the Chevron Refinery in Richmond California, the Flying J refinery in Bakersfield, and the Valero Refinery in Benicia. Mike held the positions of number one control board Operator at Flying J and Senior Refinery Control Board Supervisor at Valero. He was an instructor of both operator field and control board classes. Among his peers he is often referred to as one of the top ten control board operators in the country.
Co-authored by Ronald Stein, and Mike Ariza
Published July 6, 2026, in America Out Loud NEWS
https://www.americaoutloud.news/the-nine-energy-questions-that-could-decide-americas-future
California, the 4th largest economy in the world, is growing its dependence on transportation fuels made from refined crude oil at foreign refineries which is becoming a national security risk for America.
California has closed 2 refineries, and more closures are eminent as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is tightening up the regulations on emissions that may drive the remaining 7 refineries in the State to EXIT California.
The following Subjects and Logical Questions are intended to provide television and podcast moderators interviewing candidates who hope to lead—whether as Mayor, Governor, House of Representatives, the Senate, or President, that are aspiring to be leader to articulate thoughtful responses so voters will have a clearer sense of whether that person possesses the level of Energy Wisdom needed for national leadership:
- Wind and Solar: Wind turbines and solar panels, the foundation of the zero-emissions debate, ONLY generate electricity but CANNOT make any products or transportation fuels for life as we know it. Since the world as we know it has become dependent on the products and transportation fuels MADE FROM crude oil, the same products and transportation fuels that Wind and Solar CANNOT make. Question: Why is there pressure to stop exploration, production, and the use of raw crude oil?!
- Crude oil: Crude oil by itself is useless black tar, unless you build a multi-billion-dollar refinery to break it down to produce various types of transportation fuels like, jet fuel for planes, diesel fuel for trucks, gasoline fuel for cars, and bunker fuel for ships, and the oil derivatives that are the basis of more than 6,000 products in our materialistic world. With California being the world’s fourth- largest economy in the world, it continues to consume a gargantuan 48 million gallons of transportation fuels DAILY (these include jet fuel for 40 military airports and 9 international airports, three grades of gasoline for its 30 million vehicles, and diesel for the trucking and construction industries). Currently the state of California has three letters in its possession from Chevron, Marathon, and PBF. All three letters state that these oil giants are seriously considering shutting down their refineries and leaving the state. This is unprecedented in history. It will cripple the state. Question: Why is the governor’s office and unelected air board continuing to pressure these companies with egregious regulations so egregious that they finally drove these oil corporations to write these unprecedented letters and why is there pressure to overregulate the seven remaining refineries in California to the point that they are ready to leave the State?
- California Refineries: California is the 4th largest economy in the world and an “ENERGY ISLAND that is separated from the other 49 States by the Sierra Mountains. There are no pipelines over those prestigious mountains. As more in-state refineries close, the state must import its transportation fuel demands for aviation, diesel, gasoline, and bunker fuels for the ships entering 3 of the busiest shipping ports in America at Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland from overseas Refineries. The refineries located in foreign countries do not have the same stringent emission standards as the clean running refineries in California. In fact, some of those overseas refineries would be classified as “GROSS POLLUTERS in California. Once the transportation fuels have been produced, they must be transported across the Pacific Ocean in GROSS POLLUTING tankers, some taking as long as 45 days to transit the ocean. Once in California these tankers will remain in our ports for anywhere from 3 days to as much as two weeks. Up to two weeks, the whole time their smokestacks running into the air. Our state governing bodies make the claim that they want to promote zero-emissions! Question: Why has California abdicated our fuel production to these GROSS POLLUTERS and why the pressure to overregulate the cleanest refineries in the world to the point that they are seriously considering leaving the State of California?
- Electricity: Electricity came about AFTER oil ! Today, the 6 ways to generate electricity are by coal, natural gas, hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar. ALL the components for generating electricity such as wire, insulation, computers, etc., are MADE FROM fossil fuels. Question: Why is the pressure to rid the world of crude oil as it would eliminate electricity and we’re back to the 1800’s?
- Products MADE from oil: The world populated from 1 to 8 billion in less than 200 years, not from that black tar we call crude oil, but FROM the more than 6,000 products and transportation fuels MADE from fossil fuels. Today, we’re a materialistic society. Wind and solar CANNOT make EV’s, or any of the products or fuels that get made from fossil fuels that support such as: Hospitals, Airports, Militaries, Medical equipment, Telecommunications, Communications systems, Space programs, Appliances, Electronics, Sanitation systems, Heating and ventilating, Transportation – vehicles, rail, ocean, and air, Construction – roads and buildings, and Nearly Half the World’s Population Relies on Synthetic Fertilizers Made from Fossil Fuels. With the help of hospitals, doctors, and medications, life longevity increased from 40 to 75+ during those 200 years. Question: Why the pressure to eliminate the exploration of crude oil and the elimination of refineries as that would set us back to the pre-1800’s?
- The Defense Production Act: The Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 confers upon the President a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry in the interest of national defense. The authorities can be used across the federal government to shape the domestic industrial base so that, when called upon, it can provide essential materials and goods needed for the national defense. Question: With California refinery closures placing the State in a position to import more jet fuel from refineries in foreign countries to support the demands of the 40 military bases in California, do you support the President to implement the Defense Production Act?
- Transportation: Planes, ships, trucks, and cars do not run on electricity generated by wind turbines or solar panels, NOR do they run on raw crude oil, they run on transportation fuels manufactured FROM crude oil by multi-billion-dollar refineries. In addition, for the more than 6,000 products now used in our society, it’s the refineries that manufacture oil derivatives FROM raw crude oil that are the basis of the products in our materialistic world. Question: Why the pressure to overregulate the cleanest refineries in the world that are still operating in California to the point that they are seriously considering leaving the State?
- The word ENERGY: Coal and natural gas are used for the generation of electricity, but crude oil is never used to generate electricity. Crude oil by itself is useless black tar, unless you build a multi-billion-dollar refinery to break it down to produce various types of transportation fuels like, jet, diesel, gasoline, and bunker fuel for ships, and oil derivatives that are the basis of more than 6,000 products in our materialistic world. Wind turbines and solar panels ONLY generate electricity. Question: Since wind and solar do different things than crude oil, why do you support the use of the word ENERGY from wind and solar when they only produce electricity, but make no products or transportation fuels for our materialistic society?
- Clean Energy Exploitations: The Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations” describes the humanity atrocities among folks with yellow, brown, and black skin, and the environmental degradation occurring in poorer developing countries like China and Africa for such exotic lithium and cobalt to build EV batteries so that the wealthy countries can go green. Question: Do you believe it’s unethical and immoral to financially encourage China and Africa to continue exploiting their people with yellow, brown, and black skin, and inflict environmental degradation on those developing counties, just so wealthy countries can go “green”?
All the above “logical” questions are the ones that California political leaders avoid answering to the 40 million citizens of the State, as it would expose their lack of energy wisdom for the directives that they continue to support.
Please share this information with teachers, students, and friends to encourage Energy Literacy conversations at the family dinner table.
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If those on the left, wanted the western world to collapse economically, what would they be doing differently?
Those Great Refineries —
In [our] mind’s eye, one can dimly see all those large Port-Operations of Alta California:
At Oakland in the S.F.-Bay; & gently upriver to Sacramento
At San Pedro / Long Beach’s Port of Los Angeles
At Mission Bay at San Diego / Tijuana B.C.
Even at Monterrey Bay (historic Capital of Spanish-Colonial A. Calif.)
Maybe (at some future date) from Guaymas up toward the Salton-Sea
Glorious in their past — Great again in their Future
— RLW
P.S. Recommend Where I Was From, by Joan Didion; she says it all, as it has been & ever was
Not at all. That is the economic war, which is part of the triad of wars we have been engaged in since the end of WWII…
The second is dividing US society. Massive illegal aliens, “social justice”, rewriting history, and a laundry list of other “issues” all of which tax the economy. The debt keeps growing. Who holds those markers and what happens when those liens are cashed in?
The third is the degradation of US military. How much of the critical materials and components needed to keep the US military up to snuff are now imported?
“The world populated from 1 to 8 billion in less than 200 years, not from that black tar we call crude oil, but FROM the more than 6,000 products and transportation fuels MADE from fossil fuels.”
The usual muddled stuff from Stein. They are not made from fossil fuels, but from mined hydrocarbons. Those become fuels if they are burnt, thus producing emissions. Policies are aimed at reducing emissions, which are not a problem if you don’t burn.
We produce many times more oil than would be needed as feedstock.
The processes involved with converting crude oil to products usually result in producing emissions as well. In addition, we’re still a long ways from replacing hydrocarbons for all transportation fuels, with emphasis on fuels for ships and aircraft.
As “emissions” usually means CO2, it should be pointed out that CO2 is NOT a pollutant, but is PLANT FOOD that is greening up the planet. In the real world, CO2 works to cool the planet as its main IR radiation frequency band is equivalent to an object at -80 deg C (blackbody radiation). This IR cannot be absorbed by anything on Earth as EVERYTHING is hotter than this—thermodynamically impossible.
The social/common language context derived definition of emission absolutely is understood to mean CO2 and usually ignores all others.
It is absolutely true CO2 is the a pollutant, let alone a “climate pollutant” and it has no discernable physical effect on weather or the 30 year average basis for climate.
Please do not mix thermodynamics with electromagnetic fields and waves. Also, blackbody is in context of the planet, “grey body” radiation. Nits, yes, but concise definitions leads to better signal to noise ratio in communitcations.
There is a typo, second paragraph:
It is absolutely truce CO2 is not a pollutant, let alone a “climate pollutant…”
I apologize for the undetected error in my post which especially egregious given the context of concise language to facilitate communicatons.
An old friend of mine that worked for Dow Chemical used to be amazed that people burn oil when it could be used to make stuff. That was back in the ’73 oil crisis.
Is it possible that your friend a Dow might have a sustained personal income interest in the ascendancy of Dow as a “stuff” maker competing with fuels providers for the same raw materials?
It would be nice if you could spot the financial interests of authors posting here too and start questioning their motivations.
You could lead by example to show how it could be done?
Irrelevant to the topic under discussion.
The renown Flame Warrior again engages in sophistry.
I thought you don’t reply to me anymore?
That was a different thread. 😉
What’s stoked Nick’s fires to drag him away from the great burning imperatives of our times?
James Cook University preparing students for ‘imaginary arguments’
You’d reckon the fine minds at the hallowed halls would be thrilled to bits James was gadding about in wooden boats with wind power spreading the good word and technology for the future of mankind. Definitely a man ahead of his climes.
I have to agree with Nick. These essays could be improved if a high school English teacher was hired as an editor.
If you want to be pedantic, Nick, “fossil fuels” are not made from fossils, they’re made from anaerobic decomposition of organisms such as algae, bacteria, and plants.
The first recorded use of the term “fossil fuel” occurs in the work of the German chemist Caspar Neumann, in English translation in 1759. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that, in the phrase “fossil fuel”, the adjective “fossil” means “[o]btained by digging; found buried in the earth”, which dates to at least 1652,before the English noun “fossil” came to refer primarily to long-dead organisms in the early 18th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel
That’s the beauty of science, it’s never settled.
When Neuman first coined the term fossil fuel, he didn’t have the tools to understand what exactly it was – hence “found buried in the earth”.
Science advanced and we learnt that “fossil fuels” are not actually fossils in the modern sense. By the late 19th century, scientists realised coal, oil and natural gas came from organic matter such as I’ve already mentioned.
The original term is defunct thanks to geochemistry
The California policies are not reducing emissions. They are shifting them from California to East and South Asia. By forcing production and refining to be done on the other side of the Pacific, the shipment of crude and refined products by bunker burning tankers actually increases emissions by your own logic, Nick.
Nick,
As usual you just could not make your points without including denigrating comments.
Your nit-picking point of the use of fossil fuels instead of oil is valid, but worthless to the conversation.
I have seen no data supporting your assertion that the oil production exceeds the feedstock by “many times more.” It may. You have not supported your claim.
I wonder if those feedstock quantities also include the annual quantities of asphalt.
OK, google AI tells me that:
“Globally, about 4% to 7% of mined crude oil is used directly as feedstock to manufacture petrochemicals, plastics, and synthetic materials. The remaining ~93-96% is primarily refined into fuels like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel”
The point about fuels is central to Stein’s confusion. Policies are directed at reducing emissions. Used as feedstock, the hydrocarbon is not (deliberately) oxidised, so does not produce the same emissions. No-one objects to using oil to make things.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Feds will have to save California from it’s folly. Removing the state’s ability to regulate the energy industry is needed, probably invoking the Defense Production Act.
There is also this, not mentioned in the above article, but pertinent:
That State of California generally collects between $35 million and $45 million annually in total revenue from its Oil Spill Prevention and Administration (OSPA) fee, now levied at $0.099 per barrel on all oil being delivered to California ports, whether from Alaska, Ecuador or from Middle Eastern and Persian Gulf ports.
If California is closing its oil refineries, it doesn’t appear there is much reason to be delivering oil by tanker to California and thus, poof, there goes that OSPA income stream.
Moreover, I can’t even begin to imagine the number of jobs California will loose as the petroleum refiners and their support infrastructure workers leave the state.
But what the heck, some of its residents already know that California is approaching bankruptcy with its rapid movement toward a democratic socialist ruling class.
It’s clear that they need more high speed rail to be able to rape the people and run away with the public funds.
If the refineries close the state will have to import refined products by sea, road or rail so all the distribution businesses will still operate.
Well, the road and rail distribution business will certainly have to INCREASE to offset the DECREASE in the distribution directly from marine ports.
Too bad you did not consult Google’s AI bot (or another Web search AI) which states this, with my bold emphasis added:
“Yes, several ports in California pump petroleum and refined products directly from ships to refineries via complex pipeline networks. Because California has no interstate pipelines for fuel imports, marine terminals are a critical link in the supply chain. ”
California as already gone from 40 to 6 refineries. Refined products are already being imported from refineries in South Korea and India. These products include jet fuel, diesel, gasoline and the bunker fuel that the tankers burn to return to the ports in Asia to bring California more refined products.
“Question: With California refinery closures placing the State in a position to import more jet fuel from refineries in foreign countries to support the demands of the 40 military bases in California, do you support the President to implement the Defense Production Act?”
100% Ca is becoming a danger to itself and the Country with its Nihilistic ruling class. The Pelosi family is but a cog in the wheel. Who put them there?
Pelosi, Newscum, Brown, and Rockefeller have been running CA for over 90 years, as a dynasty of families that riddle the upper state government.
Exactly, but please make that Moonbeam-Boondoggle-Brown and RockaFellow. All paving the way for California to become the first Democratic Socialist state in the US, although New York may win by a nose (no ethic reference intended).
By the way, please check if there’s a typo in that you accidentally wrote “running” when you really meant to say “ruining”.
You left out salad chef Harris.
California has abused its authority via onerous mandates and regulations, time to take that authority away. All fossil fuel companies but especially US companies should be notified that bids will be accepted to reopen, refit and build refineries to federal standards and pump/mine the raw material. California will have nothing to say about it, they can’t regulate, fine, tax or do anything to interfere with these businesses. National security agencies have first dibs on the finished products, interstate transportation and hauling have second, California residents have third and California government is last in line if allowed to use it at all.
Bob:
Have pity on those of us in Arizona, which gets nearly 1/2 of its fuels from California via pipeline. There are no refineries in AZ.
We also pay a price for their nutjob energy policies. Not only in gas & diesel prices, but in a tsunami of California ex-pats who brought their voting habits too; all our top gov officials are progressives.
The average price for regular unleaded gas in Arizona today is $3.90 per gallon. However, the average price for regular unleaded gas in California today is $5.36 per gallon.
Things that make you go ummmmm . . .
— tip of the hat to comedian Jeff Foxworthy
You may “pay a price” but, believe me, Californians will always pay a higher price.
Those mandates and regulations affect not just the rest of the USA but the rest of the world.
Any company that wants to sell into that market has to comply with California’s regulations which increase the cost of the products and because of the size of California pretty much every large producer wants to be able to sell into California.
So the rest of us get goods that have a base cost greater than it needs to be courtesy of the morons in Sacramento.
Correction: California isn’t the “4th largest economy in the world.” This pseudo-fact comes from Gavin Newsom and is based on a highly deceptive method of converting international currencies. Here are the rigorously documented facts of the matter: https://www.justfactsdaily.com/in-fact/n0000774
“Gavin Newsom”, “highly deceptive”, well colour me shocked.
Electricity is a physicalphenomena so naturally it can’t come after oil.
We have a lot of replacement for oil based products already and
have you looked outside the window in the last 20 years?
Most of our oil is still burned for land based transportation. We have ways to reduce that.
Outside of methane/natural gas for:
— direct heating,
— electrical energy production (e.g., gas turbine power plants)
— limited use in transportation, and
— the chemical production of hydrogen and ammonia,
that statement is generally NOT correct.
Perhaps the most significant rebuttal: approximately 99% of pharmaceutical feedstocks and reagents are derived from petrochemicals, making petroleum an essential building block for modern medicine.
“We have a lot of replacement for oil based products already”
Please provide the chemical processes which can replace oil based products today.
So shut down your computer.
You are covered in oil.
True. Wagons and stage coaches
Two small clarifications.
> California is the 4th largest economy in the world and an “ENERGY ISLAND that is separated from the other 49 States by the Sierra Mountains.
California is NOT the 4th largest economy in the world. That is Gov Newsom spouting a campaign talking point. He used bad methodology. Shock surprise.
California is an energy island by choice not geography. Indeed The federal government could help by rescinding California’s special gas formulation which no longer serves its purpose.