Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2025
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by Outside Contributor
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7 Comments
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently traveled to Brazil to speak at the latest United Nations climate change conference, where he urged other nations to copy his state’s environmental agenda. We can only hope nobody listens, as California’s green policies have been devastating for the state’s low-income and minority residents.
Newsom is right that California is a leader in climate policies — but it is also a leader in costly electric rates. Only Hawaii, a logistical special case, spends more per kilowatt-hour. Even with its milder weather compared to many other states and thus lower residential demand, typical California electric bills are well above the national average. A big part of the reason is state measures discouraging reliable and affordable natural gas and coal-fired electricity generation in favor of politically correct but economically impractical wind and solar.
The same is true for the state’s gasoline prices, which at around $4.60 per gallon are more than $1.50 higher than the national average. For a typical household that uses around 1,000 gallons per year, the added cost of driving in California is $1,500. The state’s convoluted Low Carbon Fuel Standard and other climate measures are major contributors, as are regulations that are chasing refiners out of the state.
The state-induced pain doesn’t just affect direct energy prices but reverberates throughout the economy, most notably with average housing prices at more than $900,000, well above the national average of $462,000. California’s housing market is targeted with many costly environmental measures, from severe restrictions on where new construction is allowed — which limit the supply of affordable housing well below what is needed — to green building codes that add unnecessarily to the price of what little does get built.
Of course, none of this matters to Newsom’s billionaire contributors in Silicon Valley or Hollywood, but it hurts average Californians. The state is steadily losing population, often to states like Texas and Florida that have not embraced California-style climate policies. But not everyone can pick up and leave, and hardest hit of all are California’s low-income and minority households.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nearly one-third of American households have at least some difficulty paying their energy bills, including 22 percent who say they have had to reduce or forgo purchases of necessities like food and medicine to do so. Needless to say, the percentages are higher for low-income and minority households. And in recent years, California has emerged as a state with more severe energy poverty than many others.
But California’s inequitable energy bills pale in comparison to its home prices. According to the California Association of Realtors, only 18 percent of Californians can afford the median-priced home in the state. For Black residents, that number drops to 10 percent, and for Latinos, 9 percent. This is nothing less than an assault on the American dream, given how important homeownership is to lifting households into self-sufficiency and stability as well as creating intergenerational wealth. California’s non-homeowners are also stuck paying rent, which is sky-high thanks to many of the same green policies.
One consequence of all these green housing policies is that California, more so than most other states, has many wealthy and overwhelmingly white neighborhoods that are likely to remain that way. A point is reached where one wonders whether something more than mere indifference to integration is going on, and whether these policies may have at least some segregationist intent.
There’s a sharp contrast between Newsom’s constant progressive posturing and the disproportionate economic hardships facing the nonrich and nonwhite in his state. Overall, California’s climate policies have helped give the state one of the highest poverty rates in the nation once factors like housing costs are taken into account.
There is a lesson the world’s poor countries can learn from Newsom’s climate lecturing — think of California as a model of what not to do.
Donna Jackson is a senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). She wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Reprinted with Permission from DC Journal – By Donna Jackson
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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