It was just a few weeks ago that California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the oil industry the second most powerful force on earth, trailing only Mother Nature in its ability to bend the elements — both physical and political — to its will.
Yet on March 28, Newsom signed a new law that gives state regulators the power to penalize oil companies for making too much money, the first of its kind in the country. It’s the type of legislation the oil industry might have crushed in the past. But on March 27, the bill cleared the state Assembly with only one Democrat voting against it.
