Half of all low-income workers have lost their jobs or faced reduced wages, but officials continue to pursue policies that will eliminate more good-paying jobs in the region.

While activists continue to call for California to keep its energy resources in the ground, all levels of government have declared the oil and natural gas supply chain as critical infrastructure necessary to power essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Economic growth in the region is being driven by manufacturing – and access to reliable, affordable energy supplies.

State agencies in Sacramento have moved to restrict in-state production, forcing California – which already imports 70% of the oil it uses every day – to depend even more heavily on foreign sources of oil.

Los Angeles increasingly faces an affordability crisis. As leaders consider shutting down oil production, can the city really afford policies that will increase household costs even further?

California imports 70% of the oil it uses every day – and much of it from the Middle East, where escalating conflict has taken 5.7 million barrels of foreign oil production a day offline.

California imports more oil through the Strait of Hormuz – where six tankers have been attacked in recent weeks – than it produces in-state, leaving the state’s consumers and businesses vulnerable.