California Governor Gavin Newsom will spend more than $230 billion on a train that may never run, yet he wont let a single trainload of Wyoming coal reach a port taxpayers already funded.
Last month, the California governor signed a bill to kill a coal export terminal in Oakland before it even opens. The project would be the West Coasts first terminal, a direct link between Wyoming miners and buyers across the globe who want affordable, reliable power. President Trump backed it this summer with $75 million through the Defense Production Act. Far-left politicians in Sacramento responded to this historical investment with a new layer of environmental review written to stall the project until its investors give up.
California Democrats introduced the bill immediately after the presidents announcement. The bills author sold it as a way to block coal and defy the president. At least she was honest about her intentions.
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The Oakland terminal spent years navigating the gauntlet of Californias burdensome regulatory and legal regime. The project passed environmental review, among the most punishing in the country. Hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in the site, including more than $240 million from California taxpayers. After years of litigation, all won by the developers, the City of Oakland conceded and began advancing development of the terminal.
California politicians didnt like the result â so they changed the rules.
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That should alarm anyone who builds anything in California, whatever they think of coal. America and the world need affordable, available, reliable energy. If lawmakers can void a permit retroactively because they dislike the product or the president who supports it, no approval in the state is safe. Today it is Wyoming coal. Tomorrow it could be an oil refinery, a manufacturing facility, or a housing development that runs afoul of Sacramentos political priorities.
The governor further revealed his extreme priorities that same day when he vetoed another bill to speed up the hiring of auditors for Californias high-speed rail project. California spent $15 billion over 18 years. It has failed to lay a single mile of track.
California promised voters a passenger line connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco by 2020 for a cost of $33 billion. It is now estimated to cost between $126 to $23
