(The Center Square) The Democratic governor of Arizona and Republican governor of Nevada signed a bipartisan letter warning against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gasoline refinery proposal they say could result in gasoline supply shortages and raise gasoline prices.
“It is evident that increased regulatory burdens on refiners and forced supply shortages will result in higher costs for consumers in all of our states,” wrote Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo in their letter to Newsom. “With both of our states reliant on California pipelines for significant amounts of our fuel, these looming cost increases and supply shortages are of tremendous concern to Arizona and Nevada.”
Newsom’s proposal would require refineries to build vast storage tanks to hold more than the two weeks of output currently required; Chevron, which operates the plurality of the state’s dwindling refinery capacity, says building each storage tank in California would cost $35 million and take ten years, and that the costs of building, filling, and maintaining these tanks would be passed on to consumers.