Latest Energy Releases
20+ Groups Decry CA Oil Refiners’ Average $1 Per Gallon Profit Margin In 2023, Call On CEC To Implement Price Gouging Penalty By Summer...
Sacramento, CA -- More than twenty public interest groups pointed to new state data showing that California oil refiners averaged more than $1 per gallon in gross profits during 2023 and called on the California Energy Commission to adopt...
California Air Resources Board Has Some Explaining To Do Over Low Carbon Fuel Standard’s Impact on Gasoline Prices
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has wisely postponed a March vote on the new acceleration of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which is designed to decrease the carbon intensity in fuels.
A staff analysis found that acceleration...
New Consumer Alert Exposes Deceptive Oil Industry Attack On Governor Newsom
Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog released a new Consumer Alert video exposing another deceptive oil industry tv ad attacking on Governor Newsom’s energy policies called “Make Matters Worse.” Watch the alert.
“This phony ad claims to be from a group called Californians for Energy...
Friedman Introduces Bill to Hold Oil Drillers Financially Liable for Harm Caused by Their Drilling
Sacramento, CA – While it has long been known that oil drilling can cause cancer, respiratory illnesses and birth defects, holding oil drillers liable for the illnesses caused by their drilling in safety zones (established as 3,200 feet within...
Consumer Alert Video Exposes Phony, Chevron-Funded TV Ad That Falsely Claims CA Oil Drilling Is Needed To Lower Gas Prices, Targets Chevron’s 3 Barrel...
Los Angeles, CA - Consumer Watchdog published a new Consumer Alert video today taking on a deceptive television ad by a group called Californians For Energy Independence, which records show is funded with more than $3 million from Chevron.
The ad falsely...
CRC Play To Buy Aera Is Way To Avoid Plugging Idle Wells, Extending Life Of Depleted Oil Fields Via Unproven Technology, Say Consumer Watchdog...
Los Angeles, CA—Oil giant California Resources Corp’s purchase of Aera Energy for just half the price it fetched two years ago is a ploy for Aera to avoid plugging very low producing wells, and for California Resources to...
Chevron Self-Inflicts Wound In CA; Failed to Plug Low Producing Wells That Yield Only 3 Barrels Of Oil Per Day, Should Blame Itself Not...
Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog said that Chevron has itself to blame for its $1.8 billion in "higher US upstream impairment charges mainly in California" discussed in its earnings release today, saying its own low producing wells...
Energy Commission Delays Price Gouging Penalty Recommendation; Consumer Watchdog Calls for Governor Newsom To Force Penalty ASAP
Sacramento, CA -- Consumer Watchdog today condemned the delay in the implementation of a price gouging penalty as articulated by the California Energy Commission (CEC) at a briefing this morning. The CEC had originally said the penalty recommendation would...
Oil Drilling Permit Approvals Cratered In 2023; Plummeting Production Calls for Plugging Idle Wells, Chevron Wells Produce Only 3 Barrels of Oil Per Day
Los Angeles, CA—California oil regulators issued 95% fewer permits to drill new wells and 25% fewer to fix or redrill existing wells during 2023 in a cratering of permit approvals over 2022, Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance said today. While Chevron...
Watchdog Wants Legislative Investigation Into CA Department of Finance $300 Million Understatement of Bottle Deposit Funds As Means to Stop Spending on Reforms
Sacramento, CA— Consumer Watchdog called upon the Senate and Assembly budget chairs to investigate the Department of Finance’s understatement of available funds in CalRecycle’s budget as way to free money up to borrow and to stop legislatively authorized...
Oil Drillers Mislead With Advertising Claims That Decreased CA Crude Oil Production Policies Lead To High Gas Prices
Los Angeles, CA -- In a barrage of deceptive Facebook and television advertisements, oil drillers, masquerading as “Californians for Energy Independence,” are falsely claiming limiting oil drilling in California will raise prices at the pump. Californians for Energy Independence (CEI) has...
Consumer Watchdog Calls Out Oil Refiners’ Greed & Disinformation, Makes Case For Price Gouging Penalty Set At 70 Cents Per Gallon In Comments To...
Sacramento, CA -- Consumer Watchdog made a record of oil refiners’ profiteering in California and disinformation campaign in official comments before the California Energy Commission as it determines a price gouging penalty on oil refiners.
The comments note the extraordinary growth in profits margins...
New Data Show CA Oil Refiners’ Margins Grew To Unprecedented $1.50 Per Gallon During September Gas Price Spike; Profiteering Makes Case For Strong Price...
Los Angeles, CA -- New data posted by the California Energy Commission shows that as California gasoline prices were spiking in September at $5.70 per gallon California’s big oil refiners raked in an average $1.49 per gallon in gross refining margins,...
Consumer Watchdog Exposes Oil Refiner Disinformation Campaign As Price Gouging Penalty Deliberations Begin At California Energy Commission
Sacramento, CA – Consumer Watchdog released a new video today to counter a disinformation campaign by the state’s oil refiners lobby as it seeks to discredit the price gouging penalty being developed by the California Energy Commission. Consumer Watchdog president Jamie...
Valero Posts $2.6 Billion 3rd Q Profit On CA Gasoline Margins 56.5% Greater Than Other Regions; Shows Need For Expedited Price Gouging Penalty, Consumer Watchdog...
*This press release has been updated: Valero posted 3rd Q profit on CA Gasoline Margins that are 56.5% greater than other regions, not 70%. It made 72 cents per gallon on the West Coast, not 78 cents.
Los Angeles, CA—Valero’s...
Governor Newsom signs AB 1167, the Orphan Well Prevention Act, and vetoes SB 842, bill that would have undermined the price gouging penalty law
Environmental and climate justice groups celebrate a “huge win” to make polluters pay to clean up idle oil wells and to continue holding refiners accountable for price gouging
Sacramento, Calif. — Groups celebrated as Governor Newsom signed a bevy of...
CalGEM Continues 2023 Oil Permit Approvals in Vulnerable Communities, Works Against Legislation Raising Billions in Oil Bonding to Plug Unproductive Wells; Newsom Must Ignore...
Los Angeles, CA—The state’s oil and gas regulator CalGEM has gone rogue, approving hundreds of oil permits this year in vulnerable communities breathing poisonous emissions from both active and idle wells. At the same time, the regulator has...
California Gas Price Gap With US Grows To $1.86 Per Gallon; New State Market Monitor Pins Price Spike On Potential Spot Market Manipulation &...
Los Angeles, CA - As new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows Californians pay $1.86 more per gallon than US drivers for gasoline, the state’s new oil market monitor has issued a letter pointing a finger at refinery outages and potential...
Fifty-Five Organizations Call on Gov. Newsom to Veto Bill Weakening His Landmark Refinery Price Gouging Bill
Los Angeles, CA —Fifty-five organizations have sent a letter to Governor Newsom urging him to veto SB 842 (Bradford), legislation that would make it more cumbersome to assess and control price spikes consumers face at the pump during oil refinery maintenance...
Dirty Last Minute Deal To Weaken Gasoline Price Gouging Law Passes Under Radar; Gasoline Prices Up Steeply In California And State Has Failed To...
Sacramento, CA -- A bill amended 72 hours before the end of the legislative session and passed in the dead of night without debate would undermine California’s new gasoline price gouging law.
SB 842, authored by Steve Bradford, would...
The Good That Came Out Of Suing the State Over Allowing Illegal Disposal Of Radioactive Waste From CA’s Most Notorious Cold War Lab: An...
The Santa Susana Field Lab, nestled in the Simi Hills, is about an hour by car from downtown Los Angeles. It is the scene of experimental nuclear reactor testing and a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959, plutonium production, and...
Prominent Public Interest Groups Support Consumer Watchdog Petition To CA Supreme Court To Require State Agencies To Enforce Strict Rule On Radioactive Debris Disposal...
Supreme Court Action Needed To Protect Hundreds Of Thousands Of Californians From Harm
Los Angeles, CA—Public interest groups filed amicus letters with the California Supreme Court seeking review of a decision by the First District Court of Appeal that would...
California Oil Regulators Continue Issuing Permits In Q2 To Rework Leaky, Unproductive Wells; Should Order Plugging Instead, Advocates Say
Los Angeles, CA—The total number of oil drilling permits issued blew past 15,000 since Governor Newsom took office in 2019, while nearly all permits issued in the first six months of 2023 were to fix unproductive wells, not...
CA Anti-Gouging Law Has Led To Lower Gasoline Prices, Consumer Watchdog Finds
Los Angeles, CA—California gasoline prices have dropped significantly and stabilized relative to national gas prices in the wake of the Governor’s call, and enactment of, California’s anti-gouging law, according to an analysis by Consumer Watchdog.
“The gubernatorial and legislative...
Consumer Watchdog Asks CA Finance Dept. To Strike Continued Funding For Failed SF Mobile Recycling Pilot From Budget
Los Angeles, CA— Consumer Watchdog has called upon the Governor’s Department of Finance to strike a $500,000 allocation in the legislative-approved budget for the San Francisco “Bottle Bank” mobile recycling program. “After 15 months of operation, the project has...
SF BottleBank Pilot To Refund CRV Bottle Deposits A Bust; Coalition Gives CalRecyle Checklist for Reform
Los Angeles, CA—The San Francisco BottleBank bottle deposit return pilot featuring trucks rotating between supermarket parking lots has burned through over $3.6 million in state grants and services for trucks, labor, consultants, technology, and SF Conservation Corps staff...
Senator Portantino Stops Bill To Hold Oil Drillers Liable For Health Impacts On Community In Undemocratic Use of Unilateral Power To Hold Bills In...
SB 556 would have held oil companies presumptively liable for causing cancer, asthma, preterm and high risk births for people living within 3200 ft of an oil well.
Sacramento, CA — SB 556, legislation that gives people who live near...
Bill To Hold Oil Companies Liable for Harms in Safety Zones Passes First Hurdle in the California Senate
SB 556 — legislation that gives people who live near oil wells and have developed cancer, respiratory illnesses and birth defects the right to hold oil drillers liable for their illnesses — passed the California Senate Judiciary Committee in a 8 to 2 vote. SB 556 will now be referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
New Watchdog Report Lays Out Checklist For CalRecycle To Make Bottle Deposit Refunds Easy As Buying The Beverages
Los Angeles, CA— Consumer Watchdog released a report today outlining what CalRecycle, the state’s recycling regulator, should do beginning at its public workshop on April 25 to craft new regulations implementing bottle deposit return system reform SB 1013. This...
Bill to Hold Oil Drillers Presumptively Liable For Harms in Drilling Safety Zones Garners Support of 130+ Group Coalition
New legislation gives people who have developed cancer, respiratory illnesses and birth defects the right to hold oil drillers liable for their illnesses if they live, work, or go to school within 3200 feet of oil drilling and if the company did not use the best technologies to mitigate risk.
Energy Videos
Consumer Alert: The Buck Stops This Summer
01:29
New Consumer Alert Exposes Deceptive Oil Industry Attack On Governor Newsom
01:39
KOVR-SAC (CBS) - Sacramento, CA: Signs Fueling Debate Over Gas Tax
02:24
Consumer Alert: More Deceptive Big Oil Ads Targeting California
01:31
KGO-SF (ABC) - San Francisco, CA: CRV Fee on Alcohol Starts On January 1st
02:31
Consumer Alert: Deceptive Oil Ads
01:38
Consumer Alert: Big Oil’s BS Mailer
01:52
KABC-LA, CA: Lawmakers Should Prevent Refineries from Selling Expensive Summer Blend of Gas Overseas
02:58
KPIX-SF (CBS) - San Francisco, CA: California Gas Prices Are Soaring Again
00:32
KCAL-LA - Los Angeles, CA: Gas Prices Skyrocketing
02:52
KTLA-LA (CW) - Los Angeles, CA: So Cal Gas Prices Nearing $6 a Gallon
03:20
Spectrum News 1 (San Fernando Valley) - Los Angeles, CA: Controversy Over Gas Storage Facility
03:50
KFMB-SD (CBS) - San Diego, CA: Gas Tax Increase Takes Effect July 1st
03:23
CBS 8 - Los Angeles, CA: What You Need to Know About Gas Prices
02:02
KGO-SF (ABC) - San Francisco, CA: BottleBank Update, Is It Really Effective?
02:39
Senator Portantino, Shame on You
01:18
Senator Portantino: Protect Our Communities From Oil Drillers
00:51
KERO-BFL (ABC) - Bakersfield, CA; Oil Drilling Near Homes Can Cause Health and Safety Concerns
03:06
KNBC - LA, CA; Consumer Watchdog's Liza Tucker On New Concerns With Santa Susana Field Lab Clean Up
04:09
(ABC) - LA, CA; SoCal Edison's New Income Based Proposed Charges Might Not Be As Stable As They Seem
02:40
(CBS)-Fresno, CA; Victory For Californians As Bill Passes That Will Regulate Profits Of Oil Refiners
02:17
CNBC - Jamie Court Speaks About The Bill That Would Penalize Oil Refineries For Price Gouging
06:39
KXTV(ABC) - Sacramento, CA; Governor Newsom Announced A New Deal With Lawmakers To Take On Big Oil
02:56
KNBC-LA (NBC) - Los Angeles, CA; Holding Utility Companies Accountable For Power Outages
02:01
Consumer Watchdog at CA Senate Energy Cmte 2 22 23
50:54
KFMB CW - San Diego, CA; Oil Companies Need to be Held Accountable for High Gas Prices
02:42
KTTV (FOX) - Los Angeles, CA; Recap Of Jamie Court's Testimony At The Senate Hearing For Gas Prices
05:07
KGTV(ABC) - SD, CA; Jamie Court Will Testify at the Price Gouging Hearing for Rising Gas Prices
01:17
KTTV-LA (FOX) - Los Angeles, CA; SoCal Gas Bill Sticker Shock
04:24
Spectrum News 1 - Los Angeles, CA; Who Is SoCal Gas Buying Their Gas From?
09:18
Why SoCal Gas is at Fault For Doubling Your Natural Gas Bill
01:43
KNBC - Los Angeles, CA; Spike In Natural Gas Prices
02:32
KCBS - Los Angeles, CA; New Year, New Pain At The Pump
03:02
KCAL - Los Angeles, CA; Jamie Court Says We are Being Gouged By SoCal Gas
02:18
KTTV (FOX) - Los Angeles, CA; Jamie Court Weighs In On Astronomically High SoCal Gas Bills
04:29
KCAL- LA, CA; What's Behind The Gas Price Jump And Simple Changes That Could Save You Some Money
02:49
Spectrum News 1 - Los Angeles, CA; SoCal Gas Is Blaming Price Hikes On A Cold Snap
09:35
KCAL- Los Angeles, CA; SoCal Gas Price Hikes Has To Do With Mismanagement
01:10
Spectrum News 1 - Los Angeles, CA; Jamie Court Says There's More To The SoCal Price Hike
03:10
Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court Testifies About Need for Windfall Profits Cap in California
05:36
Californians Need a Rebate From Gasoline Price Gouging
02:34
Senate Bill 1322 Takes On The Golden State Gouge
01:06
CBS Evening News: Jamie Court on Gas Prices Hitting 5 Year High
01:40
KNBC: Jamie Court Explains the Spike in Gas Prices
02:23
KTTV-GDLA: Jamie Court Explains California's High Gas Prices
04:34
SPECTRUM NEWS1: Challenges Redeeming Recyclables in California
02:56
SPECTRUM NEWS1: California Stores Preventing Bottle Deposit Redemption
08:55
KCAL: Santa Monica's Last Recycling Center is Closing
00:38
KABC: New Gas Tax to be Enacted on July 1st
02:22
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