California has been an oil-rich state since 1865. But the stubborn refusal of the California state government to reap the benefits of their vast onshore oil reserves has never made economic sense.
California seems completely oblivious to the fact that the state’s aversion to tap into their natural oil wealth is making its people suffer (that’s why there is less of them!). Thanks to a green-energy agenda that shuns the oil extraction and refining prices (and billions of dollars and all those middle class jobs), California is letting an incredible opportunity go to waste.
The higher-ups in the state need to realize that their unrealistic desire to show nothing but disdain for fossil fuels isn’t helping anyone, least of all average citizens. We don’t want to take public transportation which is a sexual harassment nightmare.
Public transportation is anti-American. One of the reasons America is the best country in the world is because of our mobility and freedom – the left wants to take that from us.
High Unemployment Rate – Courtesy of State Ignorance
There has never been a better time for California to exploit its natural gas and shale oil deposits than now. The state’s jobless rate is 3% more than the national average.
If the new drilling in the Monterey Formation were to start, it would begin in the San Joaquin Valley – which is infamous for its alarmingly high unemployment rate.
The state must realize that simply looking for oil and starting exploratory drilling right away creates jobs for the local economy.
According to Rock Zierman, head of the California Independent Petroleum Association, it takes 100 people to operate one drilling rig. As Baker Hughes (an oil-field service company) reports, there are currently 46 active rigs in California.
In the early 1980s, there were around 130 active drilling rigs in the state. If California were to return to that level and increase the number of active rigs, it would create more than 8,400 new jobs almost immediately. And we know how well the oil-field jobs pay.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary of a drill operator in the Kern County oil fields in 2010 was $66,700. A derrick operator makes $46,580, and an oil-field maintenance worker makes about $36,000 on an average in the same county. This is not including the overtime, which can be pretty substantial in the oil and gas industry.
All it takes to be eligible to apply for these jobs is a high school education which is another thing that bothers liberals. Liberals believe everyone wants to go to college when this is not the case. A large percentage of people don’t like school and actually enjoy getting things done with their hands. Not everyone in society can be an office worker!
Potential Benefits for Everyone
Let’s talk about the benefits California’s government can reap with these oil reserves. First of all, oil drilling means handsome and consistent revenue for the government. All the property taxes, sales, and income paid by the oil producers can add up to a sizable amount.
Also, when state assesses a property, it takes into account the value of proved reserves and oil extraction. What does it mean? The more oil is discovered, the higher the valuation, and the higher the revenue from the tax.
Not to mention the considerable 16.67% royalty that California claims from the oil extracted from the state-owned property. In the early 2000s, the state earned a whopping $2.4 billion in royalties from its leases inside the 3-nautical-mile limit.
In addition to this, the state also takes 50% royalties on oil extracted from federal land in California, and 27% royalties from oil pumped in federal waters up to 6-nautical-miles shore side.
In 2011, Timothy Considine and Edward Manderson, energy economists at University of Wyoming, presented a study which predicted that state could make $33 billion in royalties and tax revenue over 20 years if it started developing the oil and gas reserves in the state and federal waters in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Does California want to sell natural gas to China or what?
The Ungolden State
If even now the state decides to wake up, California could become one of the most important oil states in the world – as it once was. Now it’s just a basket case ran by the poor and rich, the irresponsible and the elitists. California leads the nation in homelessness and bankrupt cities.
If California chooses not to sell oil/shale oil to Asian countries someone else will.
Where there is demand there will be a supply.