If government officials and a whole bunch of other people were demonizing you and your company, would you be involved in their show trial?
‘Unconscionable’: California oil companies facing new tax are no-shows at gas price hearing
Are oil companies exploiting Californians to rake in record profits? How can state regulators stop refineries from shutting down for maintenance at the same time? What are the best approaches to prevent future gasoline price spikes in the Golden State?
As state regulators and legislators try to better understand what’s driving California’s high gas prices and weigh whether Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to tax oil company profits could be the answer, one thing is clear: they need more information and data from the companies producing and distributing the gasoline.
It’s pretty easy: start with Econ 101 and The Law Of Supply And Demand. Add in the extreme taxes, fees, and regulations from the People’s Republik Of California. Look at the reduction of refineries, which make up about 50% of the price per gallon. It all ads up
The California Energy Commission pursued those questions at a Tuesday meeting where they heard from industry analysts. Commission members did not, however, get any help from the companies that produce more than 90% of the state’s gasoline.
Chevron, Marathon, PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero — all declined to participate in the hearing. In letters to the commission, most said speaking publicly about their operations, maintenance and inventory levels would force them to divulge trade secrets. PBF Energy, however, added that “the politicization of this issue by Governor Newsom, heightened by the misleading information he released and commented on related to our (2022 3rd quarter) earnings, precludes us from participating in this hearing.”
According to PBF Energy’s Q3 financial report, the company’s profit jumped from $59.1 million last year to $1.06 billion this year — an increase of nearly 1700%.
Newsom called the reasoning by oil companies “pathetic” and vowed to “hold these companies accountable.”
This completely blows off the market forces, especially for an industry with such low profit margins. If Californians weren’t buying so much, there wouldn’t be these earnings.
“Every Californian deserves to know why we were being fleeced at the pump even as gas prices declined across the country and crude oil prices were going down,” Newsom said in a statement. “The oil industry had their chance today to explain why they made record profits at our expense but they chose to stonewall us.”
The companies have zero obligation to explain themselves to hostile government and entities who are looking to scapegoat the companies, especially since Newsom and the rest of the moonbats won’t listen or believe the explanations.
Read: People Demonizing Fossil Fuels Companies Seem Upset They Refused To Cooperate In Hearing »
On Sept. 12, 
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