CA wants oil taxes without oil

March 12, 2013

By John Seiler

Steven Greenhut, whose column we run, has written an amusing article in Bloomberg about how Californians want oil tax money, but not the oil:

“The only thing California’s environmentally friendly Democratic legislators prefer to regulating private industry is spending public dollars. So it’s fascinating to watch them struggle with an unfolding dilemma.

“The state can tap into a gusher of new revenue only if legislators resist the muscular green lobby and allow oil companies to take advantage of vast petroleum reserves in the Monterey Shale geologic formation that runs south and east from San Francisco.

“The federal government, which auctioned drilling leases in a portion of the Monterey Shale late last year, estimates that the formation holds more than 15 billion barrels of oil….”

“As the legislative session progresses, California’s leaders will choose between two types of green — environmentalism or the lure of new cash. Which way they turn will say much about the future of the state’s long-term economic competitiveness.”

Read the rest here.