U.S. crude production has increased by about 50% over the last decade, reports the WSJ. At the same time, California’s output has fallen by half.

Energy Sec. Chris Wright invoked the Defense Production Act last Friday. He claims restoring the Act will “address supply disruption risks caused by California’s policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil.”

California’s anti-fossil fuel policies have rendered the state (along with 50 military installations in western states) at risk of supply shocks, reports the WSJ.

California, lacking interstate pipelines, can’t easily transport oil or gasoline from other states.

The state imports about 60% of its crude from overseas—up from 5% in the mid-1980s—about a third of which comes from the Middle East. About 15% of the state’s refined fuels are also imported, much of which depends on Middle East crude.

By relying on foreign, California’s shipping costs are higher (passed on to consumers), as are CO2 emissions. Also increased is the risk of supply disruptions.

Gasoline prices have risen by about 15 cents a gallon more in California than they have nationwide during the current war in Iran.

In Kern County, the state’s most prolific oil region, a pipeline stopped operating in December when declining flows made it uneconomic. Nearly 100 trucks a day are now transporting crude from the fields to a pipeline terminal, reports the Journal, but this isn’t a financially sustainable workaround.

Increasing reliance on imports will demand port upgrades in the state. and create national security vulnerabilities. Sec. Wright’s order will help mitigate national security vulnerabilities.  Sable Offshore Corp. reported Monday that it has about 540,000 barrels of processed crude oil in storage and plans to begin selling 50,000 barrels a day of oil this month.

According to Sec. Wright, the sales will allow “American energy to reach domestic refineries more efficiently, while reducing California’s reliance on foreign oil vulnerable to geopolitical disruption.” It will also somewhat reduce “California’s gasoline prices, which have spiked to $5.52 a gallon versus an average of $3.72 a gallon nationwide.”

Governor Gavin Newsom, whom the Journal calls a “master in misdirection,” criticized President Trump for increasing gasoline prices before calling Sec. Wright’s order a “political attempt to point the finger at California to divide and distract the American people from his wartime failures.”

As the Journal wonders, who is really the one trying to distract the people from his failures?