Energy Secretary Chris Wright branded Gavin Newsom ”ignorant” for blaming the spike in gas prices on Donald Trump and the conflict in Iran, adding the state has “strangled its own oil and gas production.”
“California imports the majority of its oil from overseas, including the Middle East, and consumes more hydrocarbons than most other states.
“California is losing residents faster than any state in the country,” Wright said in a social media post. “Your comments are either ignorant or insincere.”
Wright’s rebuke of Newsom comes after the Governor criticized Trump’s executive order on Friday that restarted an oil pipeline off the coast of California in an effort to bring down prices at the pump.
“Trump knew his war with Iran would raise gas prices. Now he wants to illegally resurrect a pipeline shut down by courts and facing criminal charges.
“And it won’t even cut prices,” Newsom said in a social media post. “I refuse to let Trump sacrifice Californians, our environment, or our $51 billion coastal economy.”
The state relies heavily on foreign oil, and critics argue that California’s strict environmental regulations have led to higher prices at the pump by stifling industry growth and forcing refineries look elsewhere.
“California has strangled its own oil and gas production as well as its refinery capacity, driving up CA energy prices to 40% higher than the country as a whole — 100% higher in the case of electricity prices,” Wright said.
The Post reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.
Patrick McDonald, CEO of Carbon Energy Corporation, which produces about 2,000 barrels of oil per day at its headquarters in Ojai, California, told The Post that state laws restricting permits to drill new wells have effectively “put a halt to all activity.”
“Perhaps if the regulatory environment were more conducive to oil and gas producers, we would see some of the larger independents from outside of California start to come in and find it attractive,” he said.
Newsom signed a law that went into effect this year to allow up to 2,000 new oil well permits in Kern County, something McDonald hopes will happen in other counties.
California currently has the highest gas prices in the country, paying almost $2 more than the national average, according to AAA.
Over the weekend, Wright told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that Americans will feel the pinch at the pump for a “few more weeks,” adding that in the end, the short-term disruption will “have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies.”
