Lawmakers: Fuel the future, not the flames.
Big Oil is using slick PR campaigns and lobbying Sacramento lawmakers for corporate giveaways—all while raking in record profits. The truth is: their greed is costing us. They are leaving Californians stuck with unhealthy air, expensive and dirty energy, and climate threats.
Californians don’t want corporate handouts for polluters.
Yet as we approach the last few weeks of the 2025 legislative session, this year has been defined by stalled solutions, handouts to corporations, and Big Oil giveaways.
If our leaders choose to increase oil drilling and bail out the oil companies who are still making record profits, our communities will be at risk. These handouts will have implications for communities surrounding and near refineries, coastal communities and resources, and our overall climate goals.
But lawmakers still have the chance to stand up to Big Oil and put Californians first. Protecting Californians from the greed of corporations and the costs and dangers of the climate crisis while delivering affordable and accessible clean energy and transportation are exactly the solutions voters are asking for.
Clean Transportation
Clean energy is the cheapest form of energy, and with the right policies, we can make it even more affordable and accessible to all. As the demand for gasoline in California declines, we must break the gasoline monopoly, allowing more gas blends during supply constraints to fund California’s clean car transition and help low-income drivers with clean cars. This will add flexibility to the market, reduce costs to consumers, fund clean vehicles, and protect in-state refiners from unfair competition.
Refinery Transitions
Big Oil created a manufactured crisis by refusing to plan for two refinery closures: Phillips 66 and Valero. Refinery closures like these have always been part of the roadmap to clean, affordable energy—and oil companies can afford to close them without leaving communities behind. We need to require refineries to disclose their planned closures and cleanup costs ahead of time to prevent them from overvaluing their assets or selling off to bad actors. Our transition must be just and thoughtful to protect workers and communities.
Polluter Accountability
Oil and gas companies need to be held accountable for the unnatural disasters driven by the climate impacts of burning fossil fuels. Voters want action: 78% support clean energy to lower costs. Most say big polluters (85%), especially oil and gas companies (77%), should pay for climate damage. It’s vital that lawmakers push forward policies that require polluters to pay for the affordability crisis they are causing.
Our elected leaders are missing the reality that climate change is expensive for Californians, and it is only getting worse.
Now is the time to push back. We need our leaders to stand up to Big Oil’s lies—not fall for their lies.
What We Do
California Environmental Voters is focused on building the political power to solve the climate crisis, advancing justice, and creating a roadmap for global action. We are California’s voice, statewide and nationally, for bold climate action. We elect and cultivate environmental champions, turn election victories into policy wins, hold our lawmakers accountable, and build political power to transform our political system and achieve climate justice. Learn more about what we do.
