California Imports More Amazon Oil Than It Produces at Home

While limiting domestic production by refusing to issue permits, California relies on oil from one of Earth’s most fragile ecosystems

July 1, 2025

SACRAMENTO, CA — Deep in the Amazon, forests fall, and Indigenous communities are uprooted so that California can claim climate leadership. California now imports more oil from the Amazon rainforest, one of the world’s most vital and vulnerable ecosystems, than it produces in-state. That’s not environmental leadership. It’s environmental hypocrisy.

“California politicians talk a big game on climate, but their policies are displacing Indigenous communities and destroying the Amazon rainforest, under the banner of climate action,” said Rock Zierman, Chief Executive Officer of the California Independent Petroleum Association. “Meanwhile, they handcuff local producers who follow the world’s strictest environmental and labor laws and produce the ONLY climate-compliant oil in the world, since we have to be fully compliant with the state’s greenhouse gas cap and trade program.

California regulators only count emissions from imported crude oil once the oil tanker is a few miles away from a California port. Meanwhile, California oil producers are held to the most stringent labor, environmental, and public health standards on the planet. Every emission must be offset. Every impact is scrutinized. There are more than 25 local, state, and federal agencies overseeing oil production in California. 

“We’re spending $25 billion a year to import oil California could produce right here, under tough, enforceable standards that protect workers, air, water, and public health. Every barrel we import from the Amazon means more environmental damage abroad and fewer jobs and dollars at home. This isn’t climate leadership. It’s political theater with a massive carbon footprint,” said Zierman. 

If California truly cares about the planet, the solution isn’t to outsource our emissions; it’s to produce energy locally, under strict rules, with local jobs and local benefits.

To schedule an interview with Rock Zierman, contact Hector Barajas at Hector@Amplify360inc.com or (323) 314-3342. 

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