Santa Barbara County’s campaign against oil and natural gas production moved another step forward last week when the County Planning Commission voted 3-2 to advance Phase I of the County’s oil and gas prohibition ordinances.

Lawmakers from both parties and both houses decided that California’s climate policy cannot survive if Californians cannot afford to live under it.

A new Newsweek report highlights an uncomfortable truth California policymakers have spent years trying to ignore: when global oil markets seize up, California is among the most exposed places in America.

As the Legislature returns from Spring Break and the policy machinery of Sacramento lurches back to life, CIPA staff has been doing what serious trade associations do in uncertain times: meeting directly with lawmakers and their offices, pressing the case for practical reforms, and making sure California’s independent oil producers are not treated like an afterthought in a state that still depends on oil every single day

In a notable break from the usual political script, CBS News has now reported what California’s independent producers, refiners, and fuel market observers have been saying for years: the state’s punishing gasoline prices are not explained by a neatly packaged theory of illegal “price gouging.”