Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday defended a recent controversial decision by the California Air Resources Board to tighten a carbon-reduction rule, telling reporters in Fresno that blame for gasoline price increases rests with oil companies.

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a $2 billion credit trading system that mandates and incentivizes cleaner fuel production, includes a rule requiring a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But the state air board voted Nov. 8 to make the rule stricter, imposing a 30% target by 2030, and 90% by 2045. Opponents of the decision, and the air board’s projections from 2023, say the move could cause a 47 cent spike in gas prices by next year.

The Democratic governor rejected the notion that gas prices will see a sudden spike related to the air board’s decision and took aim at the oil industry, which he said has fooled Californians for years on the topic of gasoline prices.

“Just two years ago, you were paying $2.61 more per gallon than the national average,” Newsom said. “The state didn’t increase taxes, didn’t increase fees, did not impose any new regulations. They (the oil companies) took advantage of market conditions.”

Newsom’s visit to the Central Valley comes after Republican President-elect Donald Trump won Fresno County for the first time in his three presidential campaigns. The California governor previously told news outlets he would be going on a tour of the California counties where Trump won in the presidential election to talk about economic concerns. On Thursday, Newsom touted the California Jobs First initiative at Fresno City College’s west side campus, acknowledging the Fresno region’s years-long work on a comprehensive program to drive economic development and opportunity.

After his speech on the jobs initiative, Newsom defended the Low Carbon Fuel Standard as he took questions from reporters about gas price concerns.

He said the low carbon standard, first created in 2011, has led the state to transition “almost half of our dirty diesel to cleaner diesel, it’s created thousands and thousands of jobs, hundreds and hundreds of businesses.”

“It allows us to invest over $4 billion a year in economic development to regions like this,” Newsom said, referring to the Fresno region. “It has inspired companies, many of which are participants in the Sierra and San Joaquin (jobs) plan.”

Although the air board projected in a 2023 report that the tightening of the carbon-reduction rule could increase gas prices by 47 cents, the agency later took that projection back. Literature on its website says the Low Carbon Fuel Standard will impact retail gas prices, “but the exact cost is unknown due to a variety of factors.”

A special session in the California legislature earlier this year that focused on curbing gasoline price spikes produced a law that requires oil refineries to have reserves large enough to keep market supply stable — therefore keeping prices stable — when their facilities are undergoing maintenance.

“That’s why we called a special session,” Newsom said. “I care so much so that we’re actually calling them out. Big Oil has been screwing you. If you think Big Oil has your back, you got another thing coming.”

The governor also took shots at the next president, saying clean energy initiatives are especially important for California to protect and pioneer because of “a likely shift in policies and approach that will be taking place with the Trump administration.”

“We know what happened last time Donald Trump was president: He vandalized our progress, he vandalized our programs,” Newsom said. “Billions and billions of dollars of your money in the Central Valley are at stake if we roll over and we play nice.”

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