Part 3/12:
In a surprising turn, California lawmakers seem to be pivoting. Just days before Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing approximately 2,000 new oil permits annually over the next decade in Kern County, the state's officials reached out to Chevron to discuss their intentions. Newsom’s administration claims that the legislation aims to prevent future gasoline price spikes by stabilizing onshore petroleum production. They argue that increasing domestic drilling could help stabilize the market in a state that has actively worked to diminish its own oil output.