California’s Pain at the Pump Is a Self-Inflicted Wound. It’s Time to Unleash Domestic Energy

For years, Sacramento has clung to an energy ideology that sounds good in press releases but is crushing working Californians with higher gas prices, a faltering grid, and an economy bleeding middle-class jobs. Joel Kotkin, a respected fellow at Chapman University, said it clearly in the Los Angeles Times: “California’s high energy prices are better understood as a self-inflicted wound.” He’s right — and the damage is mounting. 

Gas prices in California are nearly $5 per gallon, significantly higher than the national average. Electricity prices? The highest in the U.S., meanwhile, Sacramento politicians continue to blame "greedy oil companies" and propose new penalties and restrictions. However, the facts and the pain at the pump tell a different story. 

This energy crisis isn’t caused by “Big Oil” or “Little Oil.” It’s caused by big government and an extreme green agenda prioritizing virtue-signaling over viability. 

California is attempting to sprint toward a 100% renewable future without the technology, infrastructure, or affordability necessary to make it succeed. As Kotkin and others have pointed out, Germany tried this. So did the UK. The outcome? Energy prices soared, industries left, and economies stalled. 

CIPA CEO Rock Zierman has been sounding the alarm for years: permit delays, regulatory overreach, and policy whiplash jeopardize our state’s energy security. We’ve reached the breaking point. California needs to: 

• Clear the 1,700+ backlogged drilling and servicing permits. Let producers do their job. 

• Amend SB 1137 and stop using arbitrary setbacks as a backdoor production ban. 

• Prioritize California-produced, climate-compliant oil over foreign oil that is not compliant with California’s environmental regulations, labor practices, is more expensive, and less secure. 

• Reinstate a balanced, all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes petroleum, renewables, and reliable baseload energy like natural gas and nuclearExcutive Summary_WhiteP…. 

The answer is painfully evident as the public finally starts asking, “How did we get here?” Bad energy policy. The solution is clear: unleash California’s domestic energy production, create thousands of high-wage jobs, and secure our energy future.