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At a time when other public officials and the media are talking less about climate change, Sheldon Whitehouse remains fiercely outspoken. He delivered his 307th climate speech on the Senate floor this month and is pushing back against the recent trend of “climate hushing.”

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The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) recently published a special report warning that rising food prices will persist alongside global geopolitical instability. They call for nations to build “resilient self-reliance” across global food and agriculture systems to ensure greater food security and economic sovereignty.

In an increasingly interconnected global market, food commodities are exposed to supply chain volatility risk caused by geopolitical instability, the report says. Retaliatory tariffs, military conflict, and the recent reduction in foreign food aid packages have exacerbated economic issues facing farmers today. The report notes that attacks in the Gulf region threaten global food security due to volatile energy markets: “Over one-third of global urea and sulfur exports—key ingredients for nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, respectively—pass through the Strait of Hormuz.” Such disruptions “will likely have global consequences due to rising oil prices that could spill over into food and fertilizer prices,” the report asserts.

“The impact of high energy prices will likely drive up the cost of food more than fertilizer alone because our food systems are so fossil fuel-dependent,” says Jennifer Clapp, a member of the IPES-Food panel and lead author of the special report. In places like the United States, these additional costs come as farmers are projected to experience an approximate 2.6 percent loss in real income (inflation-adjusted dollars) relative to last year.

The report discusses the efficacy of supply management policies—market intervention strategies including quotas and importation limits—in high-income nations like Canada. “The food system has become so volatile, and we are so vulnerable to food price inflation that we feel like we need to do something,” says Clapp. In Canada, for example, public management of dairy products helps to insulate local farmers from global market volatility by allowing them to sell their commodities at profit-generating prices.

But rising food insecurity rates in Canada indicate that diversifying the range of supply-managed commodities can help improve local resilience. Clapp, who serves as a Professor and Research Chair at the University of Waterloo, Canada, tells Food Tank that “as one in four [Canadians] face food insecurity, diversification is a really important policy for us to ensure access to more fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The report highlights public food stockholding programs as pragmatic policy options for nations at risk of food insecurity. By pooling agronomic resources from primarily small producers, West African nations are able to collaboratively store food to quickly disseminate based on the needs of municipalities within the region.

To decouple local food production systems from global markets, nations must reconcile the demand of consumers with systemic policy transitions. “Thinking about diversity of diets is important because it can change those demand patterns. If people were eating more beans, tofu [etc.], there’s a way in which we can envision dietary change helping to facilitate more diverse production systems,” Clapp tells Food Tank.

For example, U.S. livestock production depends on corn and soybeans as inputs, two crops that currently serve as the largest users of nitrogen fertilizers and herbicides. Because of this structural reliance, Clapp argues that a diverse, plant-based diet puts eaters “already way ahead” in terms of both ecological impact and resilience to energy shocks.

This need for resilient self-reliance is even more urgent in the global South. As the special report notes, “The impacts of rising food prices are highly uneven. Net food-importing countries in the Global South have been hit the hardest, with inflation peaks reaching up to 30% in May 2023.”

While these nations have a massive opportunity to insulate themselves from global market turmoil by pioneering localized, self-reliant food strategies, doing so effectively requires international debt relief. Ultimately, as the report emphasizes, “the most vulnerable countries have the most to lose from the way the current system is organized, they also have the most to gain from leading the transition towards self-reliance and protection from dependency.”

Central to this transition is a food sovereignty approach that prioritizes equity, diversity, and local agency. By using market management tools to protect smallholders, nations can transition away from cash-crop dependence and cultivate traditional crops. The report highlights that these mechanisms “act as stabilizing buffers, support smaller-scale and more diverse producers, and improve access to food for marginalized and vulnerable people,” building deep ecological and economic resilience against future global shocks.

Meanwhile, recent U.S. dietary guidelines recommend increased protein intake for healthy adults, which many interpret as a push for greater meat and animal product consumption. This focus on animal protein runs counter to calls for the diverse, plant-based systems needed to build global food resilience.

While geopolitics remain complicated and uncertain, structural shifts in consumption patterns could redefine agricultural dependency. As Clapp emphasizes to Food Tank, modifying these foundational demand patterns is essential: “If it’s going to be protein, it needs to be more plant-based protein.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Jim Niakaris, Unsplash

The post A New World Order: How Nations Can Tackle the New Geopolitics of Food appeared first on Food Tank.

More than half of the projects are driven by forecasted load growth, marking an evolution in transmission planning from an emphasis on accessing low-cost renewables to “now also reliably meeting growing customer demand,” CAISO said.

The approved portfolio includes about 3.8 GW of new capacity, anchored by 2,088 MW of gas generation, along with 1,100 MW of wind, 189 MW of solar and 472 MW/1.9 GWh of battery storage.

A baby whale doesn’t stand a chance against a speeding ship.

By betting on efficiency, storage, long-term energy planning and grid flexibility, the Illinois’ Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act offers a blueprint for the state’s energy future, Vote Solar’s John Delurey writes.

Study shows that deforestation destroys important natural sinks that filter out deadly air pollution

Source

Residential sales fell 0.1% year over year while residential prices soared 10.2% in the same period, to 18.8 cents/kWh, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

Completed competitive transmission projects are also about 30% less expensive than comparable incumbent utility projects, according to a report from the think tank. 

No matter where you live in the United States or what your driving habits are, a battery electric vehicle is likely to have a smaller carbon footprint and cost less overall than a comparable gasoline-powered vehicle, according to a new analysis.

The study calls into question some persistent myths about EVs – and gives policymakers and individual drivers tools to evaluate the benefits for their specific situation.

It’s well known that the emissions savings from EVs vary due to a number of factors, such as the greenness of the local electricity grid, climate, and a person’s driving habits. EVs also tend to cost more upfront than gasoline cars, but have lower fuel and maintenance costs. How all these tradeoffs pencil out can be hard to figure.

Most previous studies have looked at just one or a few of these factors at a time. In the new study, the researchers gathered data from every U.S. zip code and systematically analyzed a host of factors that might affect emissions or costs: local climate, electricity sources, congestion, urban versus rural driving and traffic patterns, electricity and gasoline prices, and individual variations in driving habits.

They used the results of the analysis to update a freely available website that compares the life-cycle emissions and total ownership costs of almost any type of EV and gasoline vehicle. “We provide quantitative answers to common questions asked by prospective EV owners,” the researchers write.

EVs reduce emissions the most in areas with a green electric grid, heavier traffic, greater annual travel distances, and mild climate, the researchers found.

 

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In any given area, EVs reduce emissions more for those drivers who drive more often, drive bigger vehicles, and spend more time stuck in traffic.

In most parts of the country, an EV reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 40-60% compared to a gasoline car. Not surprisingly, the greenness of the local grid is the biggest factor in driving differences in emission savings from place to place.

Many members of the public assume that EVs are no better than gasoline cars if the electricity that powers them comes from fossil fuels. But grids have gotten greener, and even in areas with the most carbon-intensive electricity, EVs almost always come out ahead, the researchers found.

Moreover, because grids everywhere are getting even greener yet, this will become less of a source of variation in the future, and individual driving patterns will matter more and more. Already, in some instances individual differences in driving patterns can matter as much as all regional factors combined, the analysis shows.

EVs also reduce emissions even in the most unfavorable climate conditions, upending assumptions that they have little environmental benefit in cold climates. It’s true that battery function takes a hit in the cold, but considered over the course of a whole year the effect on emissions savings is pretty small.

The cost of electricity is the largest factor in determining the relative costs of the different types of vehicles. In most areas of the United States, EVs are cost-competitive with gasoline vehicles, even without tax credits for clean vehicles. In areas where electricity is relatively cheap, EVs tend to have a lower lifetime ownership cost than gasoline cars.

Source: Miotti M. and J.E. Trancik. “Determinants of electric vehicle emissions savings and costs across locations and individuals.” Environmental Research Letters 2026.

Image: ©Anthropocene Magazine.

 

Mill Industries and Amazon are partnering to keep grocery store food waste out of landfills. Mill’s recycling systems will roll out in Whole Foods Market stores in 2027, turning discarded food scraps into chicken feed for the retailer’s private-label egg suppliers.

The Mill grounds will make up 5 to 10 percent of suppliers’ total feed, and Whole Foods hopes to offer it at a lower cost than traditional feed, says Caitlin Leibert, Vice President of Sustainability at Whole Foods Market. The pilot will begin in the produce department, but Leibert notes the opportunity for expansion to other food waste streams. Whole Foods is working closely with farmers and cross-functional teams to validate the model and prepare for launch.

According to ReFED, food retailers in the United States generated an estimated 4.63 million tons of surplus food, worth US$30.3 billion. Despite donation and composting pathways, nearly 30 percent of that food ended up in landfills or incinerators.

Mill Co-Founder & President Harry Tannenbaum sees both an economic and environmental opportunity in reducing retail-level food waste. He tells Food Tank, “When we waste food, we’re wasting the water, energy, labor, land, and time it took to grow it, along with the opportunity to put those resources to better use. Tackling this issue head-on is a massive opportunity for impact.”

ReFED estimates that only 11.4 percent of surplus food was repurposed for animal feed. Adoption has been constrained by food safety concerns, logistical complexity, and limited infrastructure. But with proper processing, food waste can be converted into safe, nutritious, and cost-effective animal feed.

In South Korea, government-supported operations help divert more than 90 percent of the country’s food waste and turn over 42 percent into animal feed. “That really shows that with the right infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, monitoring systems, and government investment, you can manage some of the risks,” Sharyn Murray, Director of Impact Capital Programs at ReFED, tells Food Tank.

There is a common misconception that waste-feeding reduces production or compromises quality, says Ryan Martens, Livestock Director at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York. But the Center has operated a waste-feeding program for over a decade, and Martens reports they have not seen any decline in lay-rate or hen health. “We do blind tastings with the chefs and farmers and consistently the waste-fed eggs score higher on flavor compared to premium supermarket options,” he tells Food Tank.

Martens says that many farmers in the U.S. practice waste-feeding, but they must individually source, process, and formulate the feed. “In order for the U.S. to implement waste-feeding projects on a larger scale, we need to start formalizing and creating efficient processes for collecting, processing, and balancing waste-feeds,” he says.

Processing waste directly in stores could ease some of the logistical constraints that have limited waste-to-feed programs. Tannenbaum notes frequent collection and downstream management at centralized processing facilities as challenges Mill could help address. “By embedding decentralized infrastructure within stores, we can enable new recycling pathways that would have otherwise been economically or logistically inconceivable,” he says.

While preventing waste and donating food remain the best options for reducing hunger, converting unavoidable scraps into feed may become an increasingly important option for retailers.

Mill’s recycling systems are designed to turn discarded scraps into feed while helping stores identify and prevent waste upstream. The technology uses AI and computer vision to track waste types and volumes in real-time, offering retailers insights into inventory losses and waste drivers. “It’s not about simply processing food waste—it’s to prevent it from happening in the first place,” says Tannenbaum.

Murray emphasizes that retailers like Whole Foods occupy a unique position in the food value chain. “They are an important intersection point,” she says. “They’re connected to their suppliers, consumers, and ultimately to the farmers.”

If waste-feeding expands, it could reshape feed supply chains and improve margins for farmers. And the environmental upside may be substantial. In the U.S., decomposing food waste in landfills contributes greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 15 coal-fired power plants. “Even something as small as a 5 percent substitution of conventional feeds with waste-feed would take the burden off of millions of acres of corn and soy production while removing millions of pounds of food waste from our landfills in returning that food waste back to the soil,” Martens tells Food Tank.

“The reality is, this really isn’t waste at all,” Leibert tells Food Tank. “It’s a super valuable, nutrient-rich commodity.”

The project’s results may serve as an example for the industry’s potential to make waste-to-feed systems viable at scale, and to reframe the narrative around food waste.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to put a circular model on display,” Leibert says. “Nature and climate don’t work in a silo, and neither should we.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Kristin O Karlsen, Unsplash

The post A Circular Solution for Retail Food Waste Takes Shape in U.S. Grocery Stores appeared first on Food Tank.

The risk of snakebites is increasing across the world as reptiles shift their habitats to cope with rising temperatures and growing human pressures, a study of venomous snakes has found.

Read more on E360 →

Headline News:

• “Renewable Energy Just Broke A 100-Year-Old Streak” • When Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street electrical station fired up in Lower Manhattan in 1882, it ran on coal. Since then, Coal has survived the oil era, the nuclear era, and natural gas. Now it has been surpassed by renewable energy, according to Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026. [MSN]

Interior of Pearl Street Station (Energy.gov, public domain)

• “Strait Of Hormuz Turmoil ‘Serious’ Risk For Europe, Top UAE Adviser Warns” • Dr Anwar Gargash said at a conference in Prague that the Strait of Hormuz is a European energy problem, not a distant regional one, as the region faces the worst instability in decades. It is a direct challenge to European energy supply and trade. [Euronews]
• “Pope Calls For Robust Regulation Of AI In Manifesto” • In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV has called for robust regulation of artificial intelligence and for its developers to work for common good rather than profit. He issued the sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind as the technology impacts everything from work to war. [ABC News]
• “Evacuation Zone Shrinks After ‘Worst-Case Scenario’ Of Southern California Chemical Tank Explosion Averted, Officials Say” • About 16,000 people remain under evacuation orders for a possible tank explosion, Garden Grove Police Chief said at a press briefing. That’s down from 50,000. The tank’s temperature has been reduced. [ABC News]
• “Uber: Getting Hard to Justify High AI Costs” • Tech companies and large corporations are all gung-ho about using AI, so there’s a lot of early adoption underway. But how useful is the rush to adopt, and is it providing a positive return on investment? Uber is apparently starting to ask these questions, as AI does not seem to deliver as expected. [CleanTechnica]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

Istilah slot gacor digunakan untuk menggambarkan mesin slot yang sedang berada dalam kondisi “mudah menang”. Biasanya, game dianggap gacor ketika sering memberikan free spin, scatter, wild, atau kemenangan beruntun dalam waktu tertentu.

Namun, pemain profesional tidak hanya mengandalkan keberuntungan. Mereka cenderung memperhatikan beberapa faktor seperti:

• RTP (Return to Player)
• Volatilitas game
• Jam bermain
• Pola spin
• Manajemen modal

Pendekatan ini membuat permainan terasa lebih terukur dan tidak sekadar mengandalkan insting.

Pola Spin yang Sering Digunakan Pro Player

Salah satu rahasia yang paling sering dibahas adalah penggunaan pola spin tertentu. Strategi ini dipercaya membantu membaca ritme permainan sebelum pemain menaikkan taruhan.

Beberapa pola yang populer di komunitas pemain antara lain:

10 Spin Manual Dilanjut Auto Spin

Pola ini digunakan untuk melihat apakah mesin sedang aktif memberikan kombinasi kemenangan kecil. Jika dalam 10 spin awal muncul scatter atau wild secara konsisten, pemain biasanya melanjutkan dengan auto spin.

Strategi ini dianggap efektif karena membantu pemain menghindari pemborosan modal sejak awal permainan.

Kombinasi Bet Rendah dan Naik Bertahap

Banyak pro player tidak langsung memasang taruhan besar. Mereka memulai dari nominal kecil sambil memantau pola kemenangan. Ketika permainan mulai menunjukkan tanda-tanda gacor, taruhan dinaikkan secara perlahan.

Cara ini dinilai lebih aman dibanding langsung bermain agresif sejak awal.

Pola Turbo dan Normal Bergantian

Sebagian pemain percaya perubahan mode spin dapat memengaruhi ritme permainan. Karena itu, mereka sering mengganti mode turbo dan normal setiap beberapa putaran.

Walau tidak ada bukti teknis bahwa pola ini menjamin kemenangan, strategi tersebut cukup populer di kalangan pemain aktif.

Pentingnya Memilih Game dengan RTP Tinggi

Pro player umumnya lebih selektif dalam memilih permainan. Mereka cenderung memainkan slot dengan RTP tinggi karena secara teori memiliki peluang pengembalian yang lebih baik dalam jangka panjang.

Game dengan RTP di atas 96 persen sering menjadi pilihan utama karena dianggap lebih stabil dibanding slot dengan RTP rendah.

Selain RTP, volatilitas juga menjadi pertimbangan penting:

• Volatilitas rendah: kemenangan lebih sering tetapi nominal kecil
• Volatilitas tinggi: kemenangan lebih jarang namun berpotensi besar

Pemain profesional biasanya menyesuaikan pilihan game dengan modal dan gaya bermain mereka.

Jam Bermain yang Dianggap Paling Efektif

Di komunitas slot online, terdapat anggapan bahwa waktu bermain tertentu memiliki peluang lebih baik. Beberapa pemain aktif memilih bermain pada jam-jam sepi seperti dini hari atau pagi hari.

Alasannya sederhana, mereka percaya sistem permainan lebih stabil ketika jumlah pemain tidak terlalu ramai. Meski belum ada data resmi yang membuktikan hal tersebut, kebiasaan ini tetap banyak diterapkan.

Jam yang sering dianggap efektif antara lain:

• 00.00 – 03.00
• 09.00 – 11.00
• 13.00 – 15.00

Bagi pro player, konsistensi membaca pola permainan jauh lebih penting dibanding sekadar mengikuti tren waktu bermain.

Manajemen Modal Jadi Kunci Utama

Salah satu perbedaan terbesar antara pemain biasa dan pro player terletak pada pengelolaan modal. Pemain berpengalaman jarang menghabiskan seluruh saldo dalam satu sesi permainan.

Mereka biasanya sudah menentukan:

• Batas kekalahan harian
• Target kemenangan
• Jumlah spin maksimal
• Nominal taruhan yang aman

Dengan manajemen modal yang disiplin, pemain dapat mengurangi risiko kerugian besar sekaligus menjaga permainan tetap terkendali.

Jangan Mudah Percaya Pola Instan

Di media sosial dan forum online, banyak beredar klaim pola slot anti kalah atau bocoran pasti maxwin. Pemain perlu lebih kritis terhadap informasi seperti ini.

Perlu dipahami bahwa sistem RNG membuat hasil permainan bersifat acak. Tidak ada pola yang benar-benar bisa menjamin kemenangan mutlak. Strategi yang digunakan pro player lebih berfokus pada efisiensi permainan dan pengendalian risiko, bukan mencari kepastian menang.

Karena itu, pemain disarankan tetap bermain secara bijak dan menjadikan slot online sebagai hiburan, bukan sumber pendapatan utama.

Kesimpulan

Rahasia pola slot gacor yang sering dipakai pro player sebenarnya bukan sekadar soal keberuntungan. Pemain berpengalaman lebih mengandalkan kombinasi strategi, pemilihan game, pengelolaan modal, dan kemampuan membaca ritme permainan.

Meski tidak ada metode pasti untuk menang terus-menerus, pendekatan yang disiplin dapat membantu pemain bermain lebih efektif dan terhindar dari keputusan impulsif. Dalam dunia slot online, kontrol diri dan strategi tetap menjadi faktor penting yang membedakan pemain biasa dengan pemain profesional.

On Friday, May 22nd, a crowd of approximately 40 residents and community supporters gathered for a press conference and rally outside of Tahanan Homes, a...

The post Tahanan tenants on rent strike against 8% rent increase first appeared on Spring.

BYOP is increasingly evolving into a collaborative utility-customer model for serving large load growth. 

FERC 1920 requires rigorous long-term planning, transforming how planning activities produce results.

When it comes to California’s climate future, the most important figure in the state’s chaotic governor’s race may not be any of the candidates on the debate stage. It may not even be outgoing governor Gavin Newsom or President Donald Trump. 

Instead, it might just be Chevron, the multinational oil company that was founded in the Golden State more than 100 years ago. It is among the largest producers, refiners, and sellers of petroleum products in a state rapidly shifting toward electric vehicles. Depending on which candidate is talking, the company is an example of how Big Oil is strangling consumers or an example of how climate regulations are strangling the state economy. 

The behemoth — it reported $12.3 billion in profit last year — took the spotlight last month when an interviewer asked leading Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra about Chevron’s contributions to his campaign. The former state attorney general and Biden-era health secretary gave what seemed to be a candid response:

“Chevron, that’s the problem with politics. They’re not the bad guy. Does everybody here drive an electric vehicle? You need Chevron. I need Chevron. My people of the state of California need Chevron … Chevron wants to give me a check, that’s — that’s their prerogative.”

The phrase “I need Chevron” soon appeared in anti-Becerra videos by the likes of climate hawk Jane Fonda, implying that the candidate was saying he needs Chevron to get elected. Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, Becerra’s lead Democratic opponent, urged him to return the contribution and said he is “doing [the] bidding” of Big Oil. Representative Katie Porter, another leading Democrat, said in a statement that she “hasn’t made millions off Big Oil or taken their checks.”

Becerra is not entirely wrong. California consumes around 13 billion gallons of gasoline annually, all of it specifically formulated to meet the state’s stringent clean air standards. Most of it comes from just six refineries, and Chevron owns two that account for one-third of the state’s production. That gives the company and its peers tremendous leverage. But California’s gas consumption has declined by about 15 percent from a peak in 2004 due to improved fuel economy in conventional vehicles and growing adoption of electric vehicles. It could fall by half over the next two decades. 

The primary is June 2. The challenge for the next governor will be to continue the energy transition while retaining the infrastructure needed to move and refine oil. This has never been accomplished in a place as large as California, which was the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2025. The risks are tremendous: If the state moves too quickly, it could create shortages and price spikes for drivers already paying the highest prices in the country. If it moves too slowly, it could lock in decades of air pollution and hinder global climate progress.

“It’s messy,” said Emily Grubert. She is a civil engineer and sociologist at Notre Dame who has studied fossil fuel transitions and advised the state government on oil infrastructure. “As soon as you realize that actually transitioning away from fossil fuels means you have to close things, people get really freaked out.”

Newsom spent much of his governorship going after Big Oil, an effort that included a series of executive actions to restrict fracking in Kern County oil fields. When the war in Ukraine sent gas prices surging, Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature passed a series of bills to stop what he called “price gouging.” These laws empowered a new oil-focused watchdog agency, created a tool that could impose refinery price caps, and required refineries to maintain certain storage reserves, all of which cut profit margins for Chevron and others. The new refinery rules added to multiple carbon taxes that make selling gasoline in California more expensive.

However, there is some evidence refiners have overcharged Californians. Even after accounting for state taxes, environmental fees, and production costs, a gap remains between gas prices in the Golden State and everywhere else. This gap appeared in 2015 after a refinery fire in Torrance and has come to be known as the “mystery gasoline surcharge.” It now averages about $1. Last fall, a state regulator concluded that refiners’ monopoly power may be the reason for the price spikes.

Oil companies accused Newsom of trying to regulate them out of existence, and many threatened to leave. Two major refiners, Wilmington and Benicia, announced last year that they would close their operations, forcing a state that already imports about 60 percent of its oil to rely on imports of gasoline refined in Asia. Chevron relocated its corporate headquarters from the San Francisco suburb of San Ramon to Houston in 2024, and it has delivered a series of ominous warnings this year as climate regulators have revised the state’s almost 15-year-old carbon tax.

“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry,” Andy Walls, the president of Chevron’s refinery business, wrote in an open letter to Newsom in March. The implication was clear: unless you relax your regulations, we will leave the state and strand you without gasoline. That would mean paying Asian refiners to produce more of the state’s specific blend, at significant cost.

The Newsom administration spent much of 2025 trying to work out a grand bargain with the industry. The Legislature eased rules governing drilling in Kern County oil fields, helping maintain a stable supply of crude to refineries. It also delayed implementing a refinery profit cap and allowed the temporary sale of gasoline with higher concentrations of ethanol. The state’s climate regulator has also suggested giving refineries free allowances under the state’s cap-and-trade system, even if it means less money for big projects like high-speed rail and sustainable housing. The idea is to give investors enough certainty that they’re willing to remain in California even as the state uses less gasoline.

Experts believe it will take a lot more than that to manage inevitable changes.

“You actually can’t have a smooth and safe and effective transition without some form of coordinating function for that decline,” said Grubert. She believes a degree of state ownership of refineries will be necessary to keep facilities open if they stop being profitable. The wrong approach, she says, would be to respond to each potential refinery closure with ad hoc subsidies and state support, since that would allow refiners to extort the state one by one. 

That point was reinforced this month by a report from the California Energy Commission that has not received much notice. The analysis of the state’s shaky fuel system found that “California cannot sustainably manage this transition through repeated crisis interventions at an asset-by-asset level.” It suggested options that included “legal obligations to operate,” “centralized planning of closures,” and “direct state management or ownership of assets.”

The Iran war will accelerate a decline in both the supply of, and demand for, oil. Gas retailers like Chevron are already struggling to find additional imports of refined fuel, and some experts predict shortages if the Strait of Hormuz does not open within weeks. Meanwhile, electric vehicles continue gaining market share, and Newsom plans to roll out subsidies for them this year. Wider adoption of these vehicles, and hybrids, will further crimp demand, making any remaining refineries more likely to shutter. 

Chevron’s Kern River Oil Field near Bakersfield is one of the largest oil fields in California. The state’s climate policies have helped reduce gasoline demand by more than 15 percent over the past decade. Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images

All of this helps explain the showdown between the leading Democrats in the governor’s race, who are each trying to find a lane in a field that at one time included more than 50 candidates.

Becerra has given lip service to clean energy, but many public statements suggest a friendliness toward oil producers. As attorney general, he initiated a few lawsuits against petroleum companies, and supported other state climate lawsuits, but punted on major investigations. He has focused his gubernatorial campaign on vows to fight Donald Trump and protect healthcare, and has made controversial promises to freeze utility and insurance rates. On decarbonization, he has noted that “climate action only succeeds if it is affordable, reliable, and fair.”

After the chaos of the early primary, many oil producers have decided that Becerra is their candidate. Chevron last month contributed the maximum allowable amount of $39,200 to his campaign, the first time in a decade it has backed a gubernatorial candidate. Last week, the company contributed another $500,000 to an independent political committee supporting Becerra. California Resources Corporation, the state’s largest driller, also gave $500,000 to a Becerra committee. And gas companies like Sempra are among the donors to an anti-Steyer political committee that has raised more than $24 million.

Steyer, meanwhile, has made attacking Big Oil the focus of his campaign, as it was during his 2020 presidential run. He says he would lower gas prices by activating the refining profit cap that Newsom has declined to use, investigating what is causing high gas prices (something the state has already done), and taxing private jet fuel. When refineries “inevitably” close, he says he will stockpile an oil reserve and import more refined fuel for as long as California needs it.

Steyer has also had to address his own fossil fuel ties. The hedge fund he founded, Farallon Capital, remains a major player in coal power finance abroad, including in Indonesia and Australia. Steyer still holds a stake in the firm, which he left in 2012, but his campaign says he no longer receives dividends from its fossil fuel investments. 

California uses a “jungle primary” in which the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party. The latest poll shows Becerra essentially tied with former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican, with Steyer trailing at around 15 percent. The most likely outcome is that Becerra or Steyer will make it to the general election. (The other Democrats, including Porter and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, trail behind in the double digits.)

Railing against Big Oil has long proven to be good politics in California. But in the wake of Trump’s second election victory, Democrats have sought to downplay climate issues and focus instead on affordability. The question in the governor’s race is how best to achieve that in the long run. Is it better to use a bully pulpit against companies like Chevron in an effort to break their market power, or conciliate them in the hope that they don’t flee?

Mike Madrid, a veteran California political operative, believes Becerra’s approach will resonate more with the young and Latinos, both of whom often decide statewide elections.

“This attack on Chevron, it works for the base Steyer already has,” he said. “Young Latino working-class men are the demographic most affected by gas prices. Do you think they’re saying we need to get rid of Chevron? Of course not.”

Steyer’s campaign may not get him over the line in the primary, but he has at least been consistent. In a 2013 blog post for this very publication, he celebrated the result of the Virginia governor’s race, where a climate-focused Democrat beat a fossil-fuel-friendly Republican with help from Steyer’s own war chest.

“A new political dynamic is emerging,” he wrote at the time. “Climate change is a winner, not a loser,” and is “no longer electoral Kryptonite.”

If Chevron has its way, next week’s primary results will prove otherwise.

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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline ‘I need Chevron’: The oil company at the center of the California governor’s race on May 26, 2026.

• May 26, 2026

WEST COAST SEISMIC SURVEY CASE MOVES CLOSER TO HEARING

This Energy Month, the legal challenge between Aukotowa Fisheries Primary Co-operative, The Green Connection, and Natural Justice (the Applicants), and the government together with TGS Geophysical Company UK Ltd (the Respondents), concerning authorisation for offshore seismic surveys along South Africa’s West Coast and Northern Cape coastline, has entered a critical new phase. The Applicants and Respondents have now filed their Heads of Argument and joint practice note in the Western Cape High Court ahead of hearings scheduled for next month.

According to The Green Connection’s Outreach Ambassador, Neville van Rooy, “This case is not about asking the court to decide whether oil and gas is good or bad in general. The question before the Court is whether government decision-makers had and considered all the relevant information before approving this project. Our case is that they did not. Expert evidence before the Court aims to show that several important issues were not properly considered, particularly the potential impacts on small-scale fishing communities and coastal livelihoods. This includes the cumulative effects of seismic blasting over extended periods, as well as scientific evidence indicating that underwater noise impacts may travel far further than suggested in the environmental reports relied upon by the decision
makers.”

The proposed TGS survey would involve seismic blasting using airguns that release extremely loud sound pulses into the ocean every few seconds for months at a time to map the seabed for possible oil and gas deposits.

“Small-scale fishers and coastal communities depend on access to a healthy ocean for food, income and survival. However, we believe that the approval process failed to adequately consider how exclusion zones created around survey vessels could prevent small-scale fishers from accessing traditional fishing areas for extended periods, placing livelihoods and food security at risk. So, as we can see, if decisions are made without properly considering the social and economic risks, these communities could carry the consequences. This case is fundamentally about accountability and ensuring that government decisions, that come with long-term impacts, are based on all the relevant facts,” says Walter Steenkamp from the Aukotowa Fisheries Primary Co-operative in Port Nolloth Northern Cape.

This case follows earlier successful litigation against Searcher Geodata’s proposed West Coast seismic survey, where the High Court found serious flaws in the decision-making and consultation process underpinning the project approval. In that matter, the court recognised the risks posed to small-scale fishing communities and marine ecosystems and held that important environmental and social impacts had not been adequately considered before authorisation was granted. Similar concerns arise in the TGS case.

“Government decisions that affect the public must be made on a properly informed basis. We are challenging this decision because we feel that key questions were not adequately tested before approval was granted. This includes whether the project would meaningfully contribute to energy security, whether it would genuinely help address future energy supply concerns, and whether the long-term economic and climate risks were properly understood,” adds van Rooy.

The Applicants also argue that government failed in its duty to protect the coastline as a shared public resource held in trust for all South Africans, rather than primarily for private industrial interests. They further argue that decision-makers failed to properly consider South Africa’s climate commitments and the potential conflict between new fossil fuel exploration and the country’s carbon reduction obligations.

“These are not minor issues. South Africans are already experiencing the impacts of climate change through drought, flooding, extreme heat and growing pressure on livelihoods. At the same time, people need energy solutions that are affordable, realistic and capable of meeting demand. If major projects are approved on the promise that they will solve an energy problem or would bolster local economies, good governance requires that all claims be properly scrutinised before any irreversible decisions are made.”

The matter will be heard in the Western Cape High Court on 1 and 2 June 2026. 

For More Information
Court proceedings will be live streamed on YouTube on 1 & 2 June 2026, from
10:00am(SAST).

TGS Geophysical Company West Coast Seismic Survey Factsheet.

Court Papers
TGS Court Case
TGS – 12391 Applicants’ Heads of Argument 2026-05-05
Third Respondents Heads of Argument_ Aukotowa_ DDG DMPR
State Respondents HoA

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