The Wall Street Journal did not mince words in its June 17 editorial:

“If the climate left is losing support even in California, the reason is that its radical solutions have lost touch with economic and climate reality.”

The Journal is referencing Ventura County voters’ decision this month to reject new restrictions on oil and gas production – a direct rebuke of policies modeled after the Newsom Administration’s energy shutdown agenda.

Even in a county where Democrats have a 15-point advantage in voter registration, the signal is clear: despite the hollow rhetoric from shutdown activists, voters understand that California still needs oil and gas for everyday energy needs. 

After all, gas prices are reaching new record highs, home heating bills have jumped seven-fold, and the federal government is begging for more oil from sketchy foreign regimes. Cutting off our reliable domestic oil and gas supplies – produced under the strongest regulations in the world – simply doesn’t make any sense.

It is true that voters want to transition to a cleaner energy economy. Don’t we all? But voters also have real, practical concerns about energy security and cost of living that the current climate agenda simply disregards. Voters feel the pain of pushing energy policies too far too fast, and those in Ventura County have now said enough is enough.

Simply put, the defeat of Measures A & B confirms that Californians understand more about energy economics than their political leaders. The voters get it: shutting down in-state production of oil and gas won’t help California speed its transition away from these fuels or lower demand for them. Rather, shutdowns only contribute to supply shortfalls that raise prices for everyday needs and make the state more dependent on foreign oil imports from an unstable world for critical energy supplies.

As the Wall Street Journal argues, the climate agenda has left reality behind. The voters aren’t following.