The Patriot Post® · Chevron Moves to Greener Pastures

Chevron has finally had enough. After years of abuse by California Democrats, one of the state’s oldest and wealthiest corporations announced it would soon hit what is becoming an increasingly well-worn road. Oil giant Chevron will pull up stakes and move to business-friendly Texas.

For over 140 years, Chevron has called California home. But over the last decade, Democrat lawmakers have smeared the company as part of the problem, blaming everything from droughts to annual forest fires on climate change, which they directly link to fossil fuel companies like Chevron.

This demonization of Big Oil has produced a slew of increasingly draconian anti-fossil fuel laws. As a result, California’s oil production has fallen precipitously over the last decade, to the point that it now ranks 7th among the states in total oil production.

Due to these rules and regulations, Californians pay some of the nation’s highest prices at the pump. Currently, gas in the Golden State is a whopping $1.16 per gallon higher than the national average.

Of course, with these economically crippling prices, the state’s Democrat leaders engage in blame-shifting rather than offering any serious introspection or policy improvement. The fossil fuel industry serves as the convenient scapegoat, and even after an investigation into high gas prices by the state energy commission found no wrongdoing by oil companies, Democrat lawmakers still floated the idea that Sacramento needs to exert more control over the industry.

A quick look at Venezuela and the poverty that has resulted since the government assumed control of the oil industry in that country should be enough of a warning to any sober-minded lawmaker to avoid going down that socialist road. But we’re talking about California lawmakers.

The trouble is, these Golden State lawmakers want to control the oil industry even as they have repeatedly stated their ultimate desire is to end the oil industry. As the editorial board at The Wall Street Journal put it, “California’s regulators want to take over an industry in the name of mitigating the costs of their own destructive policies.”

Is it any wonder that Chevron has finally had it? In fact, one wonders why it took so long for it to come to this decision. Loyalty dies hard, evidently, even in the face of such blatant abuse.

Well, Chevron finally hit the bricks. But it looks like its new digs will be a welcome sight. Upon hearing the news, Texas Governor Greg Abbott welcomed Chevron to its “true home.” Meanwhile, a spokesman for California Governor Gavin Newsom sought to dismiss the move as a “logical culmination” of a long transition for the oil company.

Humph.

If it was indeed a long transition, state lawmakers sought only to facilitate it rather than keep Chevron in California.