Valero Refinery SHUTS DOWN Early — CA Gas Prices SKYROCKETING Already
Sun Feb 08 2026
California just closed a functioning World War II-era refinery that nobody on planet Earth wanted to buy, and gas prices are already spiking 3.2% in one week. Welcome to the green energy dream where virtue signaling costs you $8.43 per gallon by summer. The Valero Benicia refinery—processing 8% of California's refining capacity—shut down in January, months ahead of schedule, because operating in California's regulatory nightmare became impossible. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom's response reads like it was written by a 10-year-old screaming "look at me!" while claiming California is "doing the actual work." With two major refineries now gone (22% of production capacity), Californians are staring down a massive gas tax disguised as policy. Professor Michael Mache at USC predicts $8.43 gas this summer, and we're watching it unfold in real-time. When you don't have alternative energy sources but push out big oil anyway, your constituents pay the price at the pump. Is anyone surprised that eliminating domestic production leads to skyrocketing costs? How's that "all of the above energy future" working out? Subscribe for ongoing coverage as California's energy policy disaster continues to unfold.
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California just closed a functioning World War II-era refinery that nobody on planet Earth wanted to buy, and gas prices are already spiking 3.2% in one week. Welcome to the green energy dream where virtue signaling costs you $8.43 per gallon by summer. The Valero Benicia refinery—processing 8% of California's refining capacity—shut down in January, months ahead of schedule, because operating in California's regulatory nightmare became impossible. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom's response reads like it was written by a 10-year-old screaming "look at me!" while claiming California is "doing the actual work." With two major refineries now gone (22% of production capacity), Californians are staring down a massive gas tax disguised as policy. Professor Michael Mache at USC predicts $8.43 gas this summer, and we're watching it unfold in real-time. When you don't have alternative energy sources but push out big oil anyway, your constituents pay the price at the pump. Is anyone surprised that eliminating domestic production leads to skyrocketing costs? How's that "all of the above energy future" working out? Subscribe for ongoing coverage as California's energy policy disaster continues to unfold.