Daily Caller slams California energy policy

California energy prices are the kind of issue that invite easy slogans. That is basically what happened on May 2, when Daily Caller opinion writer David Blackmon argued that California copied Europe’s energy model and is now making residents pay for it. The broad claim taps into something real — Californians do face unusually high gasoline and electricity costs. But the catch is that the state’s price problem is not one thing. It is a stack of taxes, infrastructure constraints, utility costs, climate rules, and some very California-specific bottlenecks. (dailycaller.com) ### What was the actual argument? Blackmon’s column says California followed Europe by layering taxes and green rules onto energy, then ended up with chronically expensive fuel and power. He points to high pump prices, the state’s special gasoline blend, and a policy mindset that tries to push pe(dailycaller.com)on voters already feel. (dailycaller.com) ### Is California gas really that expensive? Yes. California’s gasoline excise tax rose to 61.2 cents per gallon on July 1, 2025, and the California Energy Commission says the state also pays more because its fuel market is isolated, uses a special cleaner-burning blend, and includes environmental program fees plus state and federal taxes. In February 2026, the state’s average retail gasoline price was $4.34 a gallon. (cdtfa.ca.gov) ### Why does isolation matter so much? Because California cannot just pull big volumes of gasoline in by pipeline from the Gulf Coast when something goes wrong. The Energy Commission says there are no pipelines bringing fuel into the state, and overseas replacement supply can take about three weeks to arrive. That means refinery outages hit hard(cdtfa.ca.gov)inventory breaks, the refill takes time. (energy.ca.gov) ### What about refinery closures? This is the part that makes the politics sharper. The EIA said in July 2025 that California was set to lose 17% of its refinery capacity over the following 12 months because of the planned closures of Phillips 66’s Wilmington refinery and Valero’s Benicia refinery. The EIA’s point was not ideological — just mechanical. Less in-s(energy.ca.gov)rts because the West Coast is not well connected to other U.S. refining hubs. (eia.gov) ### Is electricity the same story? Not exactly. California power is expensive, but utility bills are being driven by more than climate policy. The CPUC’s Public Advocates Office said residential rates had risen sharply through April 2025, and it named wildfire mitigation and insurance, transmission and distribution investments, and rooftop solar incentives as major statewide driv(eia.gov) 2025, with an average amount owed of $788. (publicadvocates.cpuc.ca.gov) ### Didn’t California just change electric bills? Yes — and this is where the story gets more confusing than “rates up.” Under the new base services charge structure tied to AB 205, utilities shifted part of the bill into a fixed monthly charge while l(publicadvocates.cpuc.ca.gov)ome line items got cheaper while the bill structure itself got more controversial. (sce.com) ### So did California “copy Europe”? Only partly, and mostly as rhetoric. California really has embraced aggressive decarbonization policy, and that does add costs in some places. But Europe’s energy problems are tied much more to import dependence, tax structure, and geopolitical exposure. California’s (sce.com)issions for higher complexity and often higher prices. (dailycaller.com) ### Bottom line The Daily Caller piece works because it grabs a real symptom — Californians pay a lot for energy. But it flattens the diagnosis. California did choose policies that make carbon-heavy energy less convenient. Still, the biggest reason bills feel brutal is that the state built an ene(dailycaller.com) of it.