Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for regulators to “accelerate refinery transitions away from petroleum to the production of clean fuels” was part of a larger effort to reduce climate pollution from California’s transportation sector, the largest source of emissions in the state.
Since 2020, two oil companies in Contra Costa County have assembled plans to convert their petroleum refineries to processing biomass instead. But residents and environmental groups are raising concerns that the plans could actually increase emissions and exacerbate the climate crisis, the opposite of what the state is setting out to do.
