Senate Bill 222 must be defeated in the Legislature

The Editorial Board, The Orange County RegisterOrange County Register

You soon could be paying even more for gas at the pump. That’s because of a cynical attempt to use the wildfires tragedy to attack California’s oil companies. Sponsored by state Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, Senate Bill 222 would let individual persons or insurance companies sue “a party responsible for a climate disaster or extreme weather or other events,” meaning oil companies.

The companies could be charged with “misleading and deceptive practices or the provision of misinformation or disinformation” on how fossil fuel is connected to climate change. Losses as low as $10,000, meaning the thousands of people whose homes went up in flames, could bring a lawsuit.

SB 222 comes after the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sunoco v. Honolulu on Jan. 13, let stand lawsuits by Hawaii, California and other states seeking damages from climate-change damage allegedly caused by the oil companies

If SB 222 passes and Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it, the state’s petroleum industry would be thrown into uncertainty pending court review that could take many years. Legal costs and an uncertain future for the industry would reduce investment in state oil production and distribution, inevitably pushing up prices at the pump.

California gas prices already are the second highest among the states, at $4.45 a gallon for regular on Wednesday, according to the Auto Club. The national average was just $3.12.

This is Wiener’s “attempt to divert attention away from the real reasons for the devastation in Southern California,” Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, told us. He blamed arson, environmental activist lawsuits preventing forest management and brush clearing, mismanagement by state and local officials that included budget cuts to firefighters and a lack of water “that left brave firefighters without sufficient tools to do their job.”

SB 222 arrived after Chevron announced last August it was moving its headquarters from San Ramon to Houston. In October, Newsom signed Assembly Bill X2 1, which required oil companies to maintain adequate reserves to prevent price spikes, a new cost for the industry. Right after, Phillips 66 said it was closing its Los Angeles refinery.

“SB 222 would absolve local governments and property owners of responsibility for the wildfires and just blame it all on the oil companies,” Adrian Moore told us; he’s the vice president of policy at the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation. The bill instead would “divert attention to Weiner’s favorite cause—climate change.” Those wealthy enough to have insurance, Moore said, might see some reduction in premiums. But everyone else, including those too poor to buy insurance, “will pay the price through higher gasoline and electricity prices.”

SB 222 requires a 2/3 vote. But because both the Senate and Assembly have Democratic supermajorities, no Republican votes will matter. Democrats should recall last Nov. 5 the national electorate rejected such anti-consumer policies. And Republicans need to get their act together to rise above the 1/3 threshold so they can obstruct such bills. For now, we have to hope that the more moderate members of the supermajority can do the right thing and demand their colleagues focus on serious solutions, not absurd proposals.