CALIFORNIA, USA — By the end of the week, California state lawmakers are expected to vote on new legislation in an attempt to bring down gas prices. Those supporting ABX2-1 believe it would lower gas prices, but Chevron said it would only continue to drive up the cost.
On Monday, the bill passed a senate committee hearing calling for oil companies to maintain a minimum level of inventory to avoid price spikes. Chevron responded by sending a letter to Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine).
"I want to make sure that lawmakers understand the consequences of their decisions over the last 20 years and decisions that they're making going forward," said Andy Walz, Chevron's President of Downstream, Midstream and Chemicals division.
Walz has been working for Chevron for 35 years and said his letter to California lawmakers is his way of telling them they're misinformed.
"There's no place to put extra product. There's no tanks where the refineries are full. What's happening is that they've been shutting refineries because it's not a place where people want to operate or invest in that business. California is directly trying to get us out of business, and therefore, there's no longer the same amount of capacity," he said.
One of the main points discussed during this special session is preventing oil companies from price gouging. It's something Chevron said is ridiculous.
"If we were breaking the law anywhere, we would no longer be in business. That is a ridiculous statement. It's a politically-motivated statement. It has nothing to do with facts," Walz said.
Senator Bradford and Asm. Petrie-Norris would not provide ABC10 with an interview or statement about Chevron's letter. However, on Monday, Bradford expressed his support for the bill, even though he has reservations.
"Refineries are already obligated to meet these gasoline supply agreements during turnarounds," Bradford said. "I fear many times that we're putting inventory quotas before safety and before real pricing. So those are some of the concerns."
Ultimately, Chevron said lawmakers should leave this decision to the experts.
"I think what they're doing is playing politics. They're trying to appease voters, and in fact, they don't want to work on the the real problem," he said.
In response to the letter, the Governor's Office provided ABC10 with this statement:
"Chevron hasn't even showed up to answer for themselves to the Legislature because they have no good answers for spiking prices and making massive profits. Experts, including Stanford economists, agree that prices spike when industry fails to plan ahead for outages. This policy will save consumers billions. We are not falling for their lies."
Walz told ABC10 Chevron has been present and is speaking to lawmakers.
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