Breaking: 50+ community organizations and local elected officials across California have sent a letter to the Senate E&U committee in support of #SB1259, which would make refineries disclose toxic cleanup costs before closure.
Learn more: refinerytransparency.org/wp-content/u...
Last week, flaring at @ValeroEnergy's Benicia refinery blanketed the community in toxic smoke and soot. Refinery closures are inevitable — but without proper planning and health and safety protections, frontline residents pay the price.
www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/b...
Refineries have profited off the backs of our communities for decades. Now, CA has the opportunity to plan for refinery closures so Californians aren't left paying the price of cleanup. #SB1259 protects frontline workers, communities, and California – find out more at refinerytransparency.org 🔎
Every war, every refinery closure, every supply shock – we’re held hostage because we're hooked on oil. Big Oil funds politicians, politicians start wars, prices spike, Big Oil profits, and then they blame California’s climate and health protections.
This is their game. We're done playing it.
The countries that are weathering the price spikes best are those that have invested heavily in clean energy and mass transit. There is another way forward.
www.euronews.com/2026/03/11/s...
The answer to this crisis is not to hand Big Oil everything they want and hope they generously lower prices. The answer is to stop this unjust war and invest in clean, reliable, affordable energy, mass transportation, and a just transition away from fossil fuels.
What’s more: California passed a law to require minimum reserves to smooth supply shocks, and cap refinery profits during exactly this kind of price spike. Newsom signed it. Then it was quietly delayed. The tools exist – now is the time to use them.
But their story simply doesn’t hold up. Refineries are closing because demand is declining and refiners spent years raking in record profits instead of fixing up their aging refineries.
See this excellent thread to go deeper: x.com/weakinstrume...
As thousands die from U.S. and Israeli bombs and millions struggle to afford groceries and gas, Big Oil is exploiting this moment to threaten common-sense environmental and health protections that our communities fought for decades to win.
Now, they want to blame it all on California to shake us down for more bailouts and rollbacks. Chevron's CEO is in the media threatening to shut down their refineries if California doesn’t roll back measures to reduce climate-warming emissions.
This isn’t a coincidence. It’s their business model. Oil executives are getting exactly what they wanted: unlimited drilling from a “drill baby drill” administration and sky-high gas prices. www.commondreams.org/newswire/fos...
From Texas to Thailand, prices for gas and groceries are surging everywhere because of this unjustified, cruel war. Meanwhile, Big Oil is pocketing *billions* in profits. These are the same companies that gave hundreds of millions to Trump and Republican candidates during the last election cycle.
Gas prices are spiking and Californians are paying more at the pump. Big Oil wants you to believe it’s because of California’s environmental and health protections. But let's be clear about what's actually happening: the war in Iran — not environmental protections — is causing prices to spike.
Trump and Israel’s war on Iran is orphaning children, displacing millions and raining cancer on Tehran. This war is a cruel power-play for the U.S and Israel. But as war contractors and fossil fuel billionaires get richer, Big Oil is trying to exploit rising gas prices at home in California.
🧵 THREAD: It’s time to set the record straight on gas prices, the US-Israel war on Iran, and Big Oil's shakedown of California.
Now what?
California has an opportunity to act. We can plan for refinery transitions responsibly, by requiring transparency and advance planning for cleanup. Or, we can continue to navigate the "wild west" of refinery closures without a plan. It's up to #CAleg to take action 👀
Planning reduces health risks, fiscal shocks, gas price spikes, and cleanup delays. THANK YOU to Senators Blakespear, Stern, Menjivar, Allen and Gonzalez for continuing to ask the tough questions of industry. Californians deserve transparency + accountability.
But what is often missed in all the headlines & misinformation about refinery closures is the people living near refineries themselves. When refineries close, who will clean up their mess? What will come next? Who is consulted throughout the process? Californians deserve to know.
Yesterday’s hearing comes on the heels of a massive misinformation campaign by Big Oil. Over the last year, Big Oil have spent BIG in Sacramento blaming health and climate protections for their closures in an attempt to shakedown Californians on their way out. @cavsbigoil.bsky.social
Faraz Rizvi with APEN closed the hearing with a powerful statement, “There is a 16-feet layer of oil under the facility that we only know about because of an abatement filing from the 90s. The legislature needs to look at tools to increase transparency."
Julia May with Communities for a Better Environment: We need strong accident prevention regulations. We need a long-term phaseout plan in line with continued demand reduction - transportation electrification & public transit among others. We deserve transparency.
Julia May, Senior Scientist with CBE emphasized that refinery closures are due to lowering demand and consolidation trends. Frontline communities are demanding greater transparency, accountability, and a clear plan for decommissioning as we transition away from fossil fuels.
With incomplete information & no assurances, communities already living with harmful refinery pollution could face a “scary” scenario where cleanup is delayed because of lack of funds. At the same time, understaffing in the run-up to closure creates "real safety concerns."
"Communities are generally in the dark about what to expect in the cleanup process because refineries have almost no end of life planning or financial assurance requirements. This makes them an outlier in the energy industry.” - Ann Alexander
Next: attorney Ann Alexander, author of the recently released report “Before the Last Drop: Lessons from the Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery Closure” – a comprehensive assessment of existing community and worker protections when refineries close. apen4ej.org/p66/
“We believe that proactively planning for these closures is essential.” - Thom Hersbach with @woods.stanford.edu emphasized that refinery closures can actually be a huge opportunity to reshape local economies, if we have inclusive redevelopment and adequate remediation.
Across polluting industries, but especially for refineries, we see a "systemic underestimation" of end-of-life costs, explained @gruberte.bsky.social. Too often, "closure costs are underestimated and the liability falls to the public." We need better numbers, and clearer expectations.
In the second panel, lawmakers heard from three experts on refinery policy and the energy transition: Assistant Professor @gruberte.bsky.social, @hersbachthom.bsky.social with @woods.stanford.edu, and environmental attorney and consultant Ann Alexander.
Some helpful context: refineries are closing not just in California but all over the world, from China to Scotland to Texas.
Sen. Stern: "Isn't it fair to say that it’s not actually California climate policy driving this shift?" Vice Chair Gunda agreed.
Siva Gunda, @calenergy.bsky.social: "Unplanned, disruptive closures can have incredible impacts on the workers, communities and local governments." He stressed the need for the state to proactively plan for closures in this "mid-transition" period while reducing demand for fossil fuels.