California, always learning the hard way

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 09/04/2025

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Come on California, just admit that you were wrong.

KPBS (9/3/25) reports: "The California Energy Commission voted on Friday to suspend its ability to impose a profit cap on gasoline refiners for the next five years. The ability to set this cap, sometimes described as a price gouging penalty, was supported by Governor Gavin Newsom when he signed it into law in 2023. He described it as a way to stop unnecessary gas price spikes. The decision came in the wake of 2022 gas prices that were more than $2 over the national average per gallon. But after two refineries announced impending closures earlier this year, Newsom and other legislators have looked for ways to encourage the state’s remaining refineries to stay in California."

"After years of restricting drilling, mining, and harvesting trees on federal land during the Biden administration, we are back to relying on the affordable, reliable power that we have here in America!"

– Interior Secretary Burgum

A great start, but there's more where that came from.

Reuters (9/2/25) reports: "U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reached an all-time high in August as plants exited planned maintenance programs and Venture Global's Plaquemines facility continued to increase output, preliminary data from financial firm LSEG show. August exports totaled 9.33 million metric tons, beating the previous monthly record set in April of 9.25 million tons and higher than the 9.1 million tons exported in July, according to LSEG data. With little or no arbitrage between European and Asian gas prices, Europe continues to be the biggest destination for U.S. LNG exports with 6.16 million tons, or 66% of the total. That's up from 5.25 million tons, or 58%, sold to the continent in July, LSEG ship tracking data showed."

Note to Senator Grassley: You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

New York Times (9/3/25) reports: "The White House has taken the extraordinary step of instructing a half-dozen agencies to draft plans to thwart the country’s offshore wind industry as it intensifies its governmentwide attack on a source of renewable energy that President Trump has criticized as ugly, expensive and inefficient. Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser, are leading the effort, according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. After Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January, one of his first orders of business was a sweeping mandate to halt all leasing of federal lands and waters for new wind farms. His administration has since gone after wind farms that had been given federal permits by the Biden administration and were either under construction or about to start."