We want to highlight and thank our current top contributors of 2026! | | |
5 Star Contributors
Pearson Fuels
Valley Pacific Petroleum Services, Inc.
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2-4 Star Contributors
Amber Resources
AU Energy & Loop Neighborhood Markets
Boyett Petroleum
Ed Staub & Sons Petroleum, Inc.
EG America
FLYERS Energy, LLC
Greg's Petroleum Service, Inc.
InterState Oil Company
Jeffries Bros., Inc.
National Wholesale Fuels - Circle K Stores, Inc.
Ramos Oil
Rinehart Oil, Inc.
Roche Oil, Inc.
Tooley Oil Company
Valley Oil Company
Van De Pol Enterprises, Inc.
Western States Oil Co.
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UP IN THE AIR
March 10, 2026
A plan to boost jet fuel tucked in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget is triggering warnings of higher gas prices — a threat that would usually be a death knell in an era of cost-consciousness.
But looming behind the proposed tax credit is the fear that without it, California could lose another refinery at a precarious moment for the global fuels market.
Newsom’s budget scheme — which lawmakers will debate during an Assembly hearing Wednesday — would allow fuel producers to reduce their diesel tax payments in exchange for refining more non-petroleum jet fuel, a concept that his finance officials have framed as a boon for the burgeoning clean aviation sector.
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CAP THE CAP
March 10, 2026
Gas prices have again turned the political tides against California’s climate regulators.
Politicians from Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, to moderate in-state Democrats bashed the California Air Resources Board’s proposed new rules for its carbon emissions market ahead of Monday’s midnight deadline for comments.
Lombardo wrote to Newsom urging him to direct CARB to reconsider its draft cap-and-trade rules for their possible impact on already-struggling California refineries, which also provide much of the fuel for Nevada.
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California gas prices soar to more than $5.20 per gallon
March 9, 2026
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Prices at the gas pump have surged in recent days as U.S. involvement in the war in Iran intensifies.
The conflict in the Middle East is being blamed for pushing crude oil above $100 per‑barrel. In California, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline jumped 5 cents overnight to $5.20 on Monday, a spike of more than 50 cents from the $4.65 average just last week.
“The last time the national average made a similar weekly jump was back in March of 2022 during the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” AAA said.
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California lawmaker proposes expanding E85 fuel access as gas prices surge
March 9, 2026
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Complaints are growing over California's high gas prices.
"It's terrible," California Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton) said. "What we're seeing right now is how quickly global events can drive up gas prices in California."
A gallon of regular gas is now well above $5, but at this E85 fuel is going for much cheaper. But what is E85?
"E85 is a mixture of ethanol and gasoline," said Colin Murphy, with the UC Davis energy futures research program. "It can be anywhere up to 85% ethanol. That's where the E85 comes from."
Murphy says it's predominantly made from corn instead of petroleum, so it's less impacted when global crude oil prices spike.
"It is being viewed as an option for some price relief given the increase in gas prices due to the Iran war," Murphy said.
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Oil prices swing wildly as Iran war threatens transport routes and production across Middle East
March 9, 2026
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The widening Iran war has upended oil production and shipping across the Middle East, straining energy supplies worldwide.
Those disruptions caused oil to spike Monday, only for it to swiftly fall back after President Donald Trump suggested the war could be near an end.
The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, briefly surged to $119.50 per barrel on Monday — its highest level since the summer after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. West Texas Intermediate, which is produced in the U.S., also soared to $119.48 per barrel at one point. But those prices fell to under $90 late Monday, as markets made significant reversals after Trump told CBS News he thinks “the war is very complete.”
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REFINER CALL
March 9, 2026
California’s in-state refiners are not happy with the California Air Resources Board’s proposed cap-and-trade rules.
In a sign they’re calling in for more political help, refiners are taking their plea not only to CARB, which is taking public comment on the rules until midnight, but also to top legislative leaders and Newsom.
Chevron, Marathon and PBF Energy seem most concerned about the risk that the new rules impose greater pollution penalties for in-state companies than out-of-state ones, potentially spiking California gas prices and driving remaining in-state refiners out of business.
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Gas prices soaring, Trump administration sets stage to OK controversial offshore oil plan
March 7, 2026
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As the war in Iran sends global fuel prices soaring, the U.S. Department of Justice has released a legal opinion claiming that President Trump has the authority to override California laws and regulations that have blocked a controversial offshore oil operation by invoking the Defense Production Act.
The 22-page opinion, published this week by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, takes aim at the many state regulators and agencies that have not yet approved production plans from Sable Offshore Corp. — the Houston-based firm that has struggled to revive long-dormant oil infrastructure along the Santa Barbara County coast. The opinion calls the networks of offshore rigs and connected pipelines “a critical energy resource on the West Coast.”
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Pipeline's idling puts squeeze on Kern oil industry
March 4, 2026
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Independent local oil producers are being squeezed by the idling of the only crude pipeline running north to a Bay Area refinery, which leaves them few options but to have their product hauled at considerable cost to southbound pipeline interconnections in southern Kern.
The San Pedro Bay Pipeline’s idling in December has revived concerns that lower pipeline volumes that started with a slowdown in oil permitting, and have since contributed to refinery closures, could cause lasting damage to California’s petroleum infrastructure and, by extension, the local industry.
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Everyone wants a piece of the budget
March 5, 2026
Sacramento lawmakers are seeing dollar signs. Most wish they had more in sight.
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
The messiest fight will likely be over the greenhouse gas reduction fund, the coveted pot of revenue generated through emissions auctions that bankrolls a range of climate programs.
While much of the roughly $4 billion in annual GGRF dollars is already accounted for, lawmakers carved out $1 billion in discretionary funding when they extended cap and trade last session. And much like last year, Newsom wants to earmark most of that funding — $750 million — to backfill a budget shortfall at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection…
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Trump hates renewables. The Iran war may help them.
March 3, 2026
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President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran could have surprising benefits for another target of his ire: the renewable energy industry.
Several index funds that include shares of U.S. clean energy companies rose Monday, following the American-Israeli strikes Saturday on one of the world’s largest oil and gas producing nations.
Invesco’s WilderHill Clean Energy ETF, for example, jumped 2.3 percent. That beat the broader S&P 500, which held steady as share prices in most global markets tumbled.
The scale of a boost for renewable energy companies could depend on how much damage the war causes to Middle East oil and gas infrastructure and how long the hostility imperils shipments of crude and liquefied natural gas, energy and security analysts said...
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Chevron Warns of Irreversible Harm to California's Economy and Energy Security in Letter to Newsom
March 4, 2026
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Chevron just sent a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Air Resources Board warning them of deep concerns and strong opposition to the CARB- proposed amendments to the Cap-and-Invest (formerly cap and trade) regulation, that the state’s few remaining refineries can’t survive, and the California economy could be crippled.
“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry to this misguided program. This regulation will increase transportation and aviation fuel prices for consumers. It will risk significant job losses, including many high-paying union jobs, while reducing funding for essential public services. It will upend California’s fuels market and threaten critical energy and national security assets.”
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California youths plead with appeals court to hear how climate change affects their lives
March 6, 2026
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Attorneys for 18 California youths are asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to allow them to go forward with claims that climate change is already affecting them disproportionately.
The youths, now 10 to 19 years old, argue that the Environmental Protection Agency discriminates against children by giving more weight to current economic concerns than to long-term health benefits of regulations when it considers policies. The legal nonprofit Our Children’s Trust filed the original case in 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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California gas prices will jump under climate revisions, industry warns
March 4, 2026
The potential revisions will raise costs for independent fuel retailers, the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance said in a letter to the program regulator, the California Air Resources Board.
“Higher compliance costs translate directly into increased fuel prices — and the effects can be staggering,“ the trade group for fuel sellers and convenience store operators said in a comment on the agency’s draft changes to system rules.
Pump prices could increase by up to 15 cents per gallon between 2027 and 2030 depending on cost increases for fuel product sellers, Gebriel Saleh, the trade group’s senior policy analyst, said in an email.
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California still waiting for E15
March 4, 2026
During a panel on Unleashing E15 at last week’s National Ethanol Conference, Alessandra Magnasco with the California Fuels & Convenience Alliance said her members would be thrilled to see California just do away with the stage two vapor recovery equipment.
“They’re actually a lot more expensive than a traditional nozzle. They break and then you have to get a new one. It’s much more expensive. It really is a huge headache,” said Magnasco. “In my humble opinion, they’re really not necessary because we have such a percentage of the number of cars on the road that have the onboard vapor recovery systems that it really doesn’t make sense. But California likes to hold on to every last little vestiges of their old regulations…And so it’s really an outdated relic of the past, but they just don’t want to give it up because they think it’s going to give you that little extra bit of vapor recovery that you wouldn’t have without it.”
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Bay Area gas prices hit $5 a gallon in the city
March 5, 2026
Industry advocates have a darker outlook. Spokespeople for the California Fuels & Convenience Alliance, a trade group representing gas stations ... and convenience store operators, warned that the state’s reliance on imported crude oil makes it “particularly vulnerable” to geopolitical volatility, including airstrikes in the Middle East. Prices “react quickly” whenever the shipping or global supply chains are thwarted, representatives of the alliance said.
| | There has been a significant amount of policy and compliance activity. We've created this compliance checklist to make it easier for our members to keep on track with all updates. Take a moment to ensure you’re fully up to speed by reviewing this Compliance Checklist: | | |
This Compliance Checklist details what you need to know for:
#1 Immediate Action Required for ABC Licensees: Kratom/7-OH
#2 Proposition 65 Compliance Reminder for Bisphenol S (BPS)
#3 Attention Tobacco Retailers: Unflavored Tobacco List
#4 SB 1053 is in Effect: No More Plastic Bags
#5 Biodiesel B20 On-Road-In-Use Requirements No Longer in Effect
#6 Workplace Know Your Rights Model Notice Requirement
#7 Cal/OSHA Form 300A Workplace Illnesses and Injuries Annual Summary Requirement
#8 Tianeptine Restrictions
#9 New Form Required For Employers: Emergency Contact Form for Arrest or Detention
#10 California Regulations on AI and Privacy Policies
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Stay Connected With Your Local Chapter!
As a CFCA Member, you're automatically part of one of our Local Chapters, established to help us better advocate for and engage with our members on the issues that matter most at the city and county level.
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Don't forget to join us on the BAND app, where you can stay up to date on the latest alerts for your region. For any questions, contact Bryan Lam, at bryan@cfca.energy
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State & Local Updates!
Stay tuned to see how we’re advocating on your behalf, including our correspondence with lawmakers, responses to key policies, and other important communications shaping the industry.
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Attack on Iran Underscores Risks of California's Heavy Reliance on Imported Oil as Gas Prices Rise, Affecting Drivers in the Southwest
Published March 4, 2026
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