Hold onto your wallets because gas prices are headed up, up, up.
That’s because another refinery is going out of business thanks to the Democrats’ burdensome regulations. They want “big oil” to fail even though they love to jet around the world in their display of what great world leaders they are.
Their policies, however, are the epitome of stupid.
Democrats in the state Legislature and Newsom might feel great that they are protecting the environment but because as in-state refining capacity declines, gasoline refined in the United States is now traveling thousands of miles to the Caribbean before returning to the West Coast on foreign tankers. Last year, California sourced more barrels through the Bahamas than in the prior nine years combined, accounting for roughly 12 percent of all seaborne gasoline imports.
California imported more gasoline in November than ever before, with more than 40 percent routed through the Bahamas, according to Bloomberg.
Now when you buy one gallon of gas you get two sets of emissions. Why? Because out-of-state refinement of oil is still affecting the atmosphere.
Consider that large oil tankers emit over 11 tons of carbon dioxide per day while at anchor and significantly more while traveling, roughly equivalent to the daily footprint of 16,000 passenger cars. Total emissions depend on size and speed, with large vessels potentially producing 16–30 tons of daily or up to 200 tons per year for specific, large capacity vessels. Consider too that an oil tanker takes two to three weeks to travel from the Caribbean to California!
Refinery closures are projected to raise gasoline prices by 5 to 15 cents per gallon. With no interstate pipelines connecting the Gulf Coast to California, the state is increasingly exposed to global freight markets and long-distance supply chains.
Drivers already pay the highest state gas tax in the nation at 61.2 cents per gallon. Now they are paying for record fuel import dependence.
Democrats control the Legislature and statewide office, and California families are paying the price for the energy system they built – or shall we say dismantled!
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I had an interesting discussion with Ceres Police Sgt. Keith Griebel about the difficulties in hiring new officers.
If a candidate passes physical and psychological background checks, they attend an academy where they get their heads filled with knowledge and theory. But the real world experience comes when they are sworn into office and undergo field training. Some guys can’t handle real life scary scenarios or they simply don’t want to handle things by the book and do it their way. And they either wash out or resign.
Contrast that in the days of the 1950s when you could be hired off the street with no training and handed a gun. We recall what the late Police Chief Leroy Cunningham told the Courier once: “I weighed 130 pounds wringing wet. I needed the gun to hold me to the ground. There I was, 21 years old, scared stiff, and carrying a gun. I was out there all night, by myself, patrolling this town. That was a terrible thing to do to the citizens of this community.”
He relied heavily on local officers for pointers.
Be thankful for the men and women who do have the courage to become police officers.
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Word from a reliable source has it that another application will be coming soon for another car wash in Ceres, this one on Hatch Road.
I can hear the collective groans now. How saturated will Ceres be with car washes? The news prompted one city official to tell me that, “Hey, we have the cleanest cars around.”
Meanwhile, Ceres has yet to see a new chain sit down restaurant. Like I’ve been saying, folks at Cracker Barrel, get down here and look at Ceres before another gas station fills up the spot!
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There are always the outliers to the good and decent men and women in law enforcement. There are occasionally really bad apples who worm their way into positions of authority. Consider Sanger police officer J. DeShawn Torrence who was tried and convicted in January 2025 of committing sexual assaults of women that began in 2016. Now four victims are suing the city. Torrence, now 41, will spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
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The drive to collect one million signatures so that a voter ID measure is placed on the November ballot has been accomplished.
Carl DeMaio, who is not only a Republican state assemblyman, is chairman of Reform California who is leading the charge to ensure our elections are fair and square.
Most people want voters to show they are legally entitled to vote but DeMaio suggests the Democrats are trying to corruptly block such ballot measures. He expects folks like Attorney General Rob Bonta to legal wrangle to fight it from going to a vote.
They’re also notorious for wording ballot measure titles to fit their agenda. If it’s something they want, it will be worded deceptively to sound more innocuous than it truly is. If it’s a measure they dislike – like the one coming up – they will slap a negative title on it. Remember what they did with the gas tax repeal initiative? They worded it: ““Eliminates Certain Road Repair and Transportation Funding. Requires Certain Fuel Taxes and Vehicle Fees be Approved by the Electorate.” Sounds ominous compared to “Prevent Politicians from Raising the Gas Tax without Public Vote” Initiative.
The other tactic may be to place a phony measure on the ballot to confuse or distract voters.
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Newsom is doubling down on his fiscal insanity. How many billions of dollars is the state of California in debt under his watch? Yet on Friday he announced he’s releasing $35 million of state funds to help philanthropic groups provide services to illegal immigrants affected by detention and deportation.
Assemblyman Carl DeMaio decried the move, saying it would be the same as if you were audited by the IRS and found to owe taxes you could receive a free lawyer to fight the federal government.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
