Senate Bill 1137 passed in August 2022 with the bare minimum votes needed- 25 State Senators and 46 Assembly members. The bill shut down approximately 15,500 oil wells in California and replaced those barrels of oil with imports from workers in foreign countries.
Because of rushed legislation in Sacramento, 55,000 oil and gas jobs are in jeopardy. Now, California jobs are being cut as we pay foreign nations to send us oil we could have produced in our home state by blue-collar workers like our friends and neighbors.
To this day, those who voted to make California more dependent on oil imports have yet to offer a report or analysis on the impact of cutting tens of thousands of oil and gas jobs. They have also failed to report the effect on the industry’s revenue from California’s economy and the taxes that support local services.
These are a few reasons why almost 1 million Californians signed the Stop the Energy Shutdown referendum. In November 2024, Californians can take matters into their own hands and vote to save 55,000 energy jobs.
If we continue to consume oil in California—1.8 million barrels daily—it makes sense to produce it here instead of importing it from countries that oppose California values.
We can employ California workers, investing in our future as a state and country, or we can continue to send those jobs abroad and line the pockets of the Saudi Royal family.
