Caldwell: Three Insufferable Talking Heads Bring On $8 Per Gallon Gasoline

It is not the Iranians, the Arab nations or Russia causing the price of gas to go up in California.  It is our politicians.  On July 1, Newsom is adding a $.65 a gallon tax on gas.  At the same time he is trying to close the oil industry in Kern County.  Santa Barbara County has three Supervisors that want you to bike or walk to work-no cars if their county.

“Finally, we have County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, PhD, which must stand for PinheaD. How is it that Hartmann has literally closed her eyes to the fact that shutting down CA oil production will cause more pollution that will arise by shipping oil from halfway around the world instead of pumping it here? Moreover, she believes she has the moral imperative to steal the property rights and investments of people in the oil and gas business even while she is violating the Constitution in the process.

Moreover, unlike imported foreign oil, California-produced oil is specially formulated, processed, and mitigated to lower its environmental impact. We call it the California blend. Oil companies and refineries, along with industry, are required to pay money into the California Cap and Trade program, some $33 billion to date, to offset greenhouse gases. That means their ghg footprint has been eliminated by offsetting the emissions. These funds are then used by the state to eliminate emissions by such things as buying electric buses and, of course, funding the high-speed rail project boondoggle. Hence, CA oil and gas production is not contributing to “climate change.”

Why do these Supervisors hate the people of their County—and the State?

Three Insufferable Talking Heads Bring On $8 Per Gallon Gasoline

By Andy Caldwell, Santa Barbara Current, 5/25/25    https://www.sbcurrent.com/p/three-insufferable-talking-heads?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2074654&post_id=164394044&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=x9o3&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Three Insufferable Talking Heads Bring On $8 Per Gallon Gasoline

The term “talking head” has become slang for a person whose talk is empty and pretentious. Accordingly, allow me to introduce you to three talking heads who are doing their part to ensure gas prices on the Central Coast and throughout CA hit $8 per gallon in less than two years by shutting down oil and gas production.

The empty pretentious talk associated with this policy initiative? According to Supervisor Laura Capps, by eliminating onshore oil production on the Central Coast, we will never have fires again. That is, she is passing the blame for the past fires here on local oil production versus global greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions we can do nothing about.

County Supervisor Capps is simply living in a bubble of pretense. She is as woke as they come, coupled with an attitude of sanctimonious superiority. She pretends she is going to end wildfires by eliminating oil and gas operations in the county even though most all the devastating wildfires in our region have been started by fallen electrical lines during windstorms that ignited unmanaged chaparral that hadn’t burned in 100 years. The very same electrical lines that are bringing so-called green electricity to our region.

Moreover, Capps can’t wrap her head around the difference between production and consumption. As our local and state governments have stymied our state oil production, we consumers didn’t reduce consumption; we just imported the oil from half-way around the world to satisfy demand. Hence, the only real thing Capps & Co. accomplished was loss of jobs and resultant higher fuel costs.

Bobble-Head Roy Lee

Supervisor Roy Lee, for his part, is simply a bobble-head. That is, he agrees with virtually everything Capps tells him to do. His one big credibility gap? Uncle Chen’s has gas! What does that mean? It is safe to assume the Chinese restaurant his family owns, called Uncle Chen, is still cooking with the natural gas he wants to eliminate from other people’s homes and businesses.

Pinhead Joan Hartmann

Finally, we have County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, PhD, which must stand for PinheaD. How is it that Hartmann has literally closed her eyes to the fact that shutting down CA oil production will cause more pollution that will arise by shipping oil from halfway around the world instead of pumping it here? Moreover, she believes she has the moral imperative to steal the property rights and investments of people in the oil and gas business even while she is violating the Constitution in the process.

Moreover, unlike imported foreign oil, California-produced oil is specially formulated, processed, and mitigated to lower its environmental impact. We call it the California blend. Oil companies and refineries, along with industry, are required to pay money into the California Cap and Trade program, some $33 billion to date, to offset greenhouse gases. That means their ghg footprint has been eliminated by offsetting the emissions. These funds are then used by the state to eliminate emissions by such things as buying electric buses and, of course, funding the high-speed rail project boondoggle. Hence, CA oil and gas production is not contributing to “climate change.”

Supervisor Capps, aka bubblehead, would have you believe that the $7 million in tax revenues generated in Santa Barbara County is not worth considering as she tries to eliminate the industry. Moreover, she also presents a chart to support her claim that the industry is on its death bed anyway.

Her claim is a convenient lie.

For starters, she ignores the fact that there was a resurgence of onshore oil production in our county beginning around 2012, when four independent oil operators sought to increase production but were effectively denied the opportunity to do so by the county via arbitrary and capricious regulatory standards. Hence, Capps would have you believe the industry is in decline when the county (and the state) have been responsible for decreased production and, subsequently, reduced refinery capacity.

On the California coast alone, the oil industry generates some $10.5 billion in total economic contribution, including $2 billion in tax revenue, and $2 billion in wages and benefits.

Furthermore, Californians consume over one billion gallons of gasoline every month. Our gas prices are typically $2 more per gallon than in other states. That means consumers could have upwards of $26 billion more in their pockets every year to spend on food, rent, and over-priced green utilities, if our cheap-talking politicians would quit their meaningless war against the oil and gas industry.

All of this is par for the course for these hard-core leftist talking heads. They steal things without compunction. First, it was the ambulance contract. Now it is the un-Constitutional taking of mineral rights of oil royalty owners. For these three talking heads, the ends justify the means as they seek to force consumers into electric vehicles who won’t be able to afford $8 per gallon gasoline way ahead of our ability to facilitate the transition.