Energy Secretary Chris Wright and California Governor Gavin Newsom are having a very public argument about who exactly is to blame for California's energy bills. Spoiler: neither of them is volunteering.
In a post on X Tuesday, Wright went after Newsom over his criticism of both Wright and President Donald Trump regarding surging energy costs amid the Iran war. Wright's opening line was not subtle: "almost everything Gavin Newsom says about energy is false."
He didn't stop there. Wright said that without the measures adopted by Trump, "there would be gas lines in California and trucks wouldn't be moving." That's a striking claim, and it's the kind of thing you say when you want the argument to be about consequences rather than vibes.
Wright's Scorecard for California
Wright's post read like a prosecutor's closing argument. He claimed Newsom had driven the "highest electricity prices," along with the "highest gasoline prices, highest diesel prices and the highest adjusted poverty rate in the nation."
He also framed the issue as a matter of national security, noting that 60% of California's oil is "imported from overseas." Wright specifically claimed the state imports oil from Iraq. "California has done everything wrong to make energy expensive in peacetime and in times of conflict," he said.
The numbers, at least on the import side, back up part of that. According to data shared by the California Energy Commission, the state imported 50,783 barrels of oil from Iraq in 2025, second only to Brazil, from which California sourced 52,115 barrels. In total, the state imported 289,748 barrels of oil throughout 2025.
Newsom's Side of the Fight
The exchange didn't happen in a vacuum. Newsom has been criticizing energy supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz as tensions with Iran escalate, and he's been pressing the Trump administration on what it's actually doing to protect consumers from the rising energy costs tied to the war's supply chain fallout.
He also slammed Trump over the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to repeal pollution limits on coal and gas power plants, saying the state intends to sue the administration over the rollback. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had also criticized the EPA's decision earlier this week.
So where does that leave things? Two officials, one very expensive state, and a war halfway around the world tightening the screws on global oil flows. Wright says California's problems are self-inflicted. Newsom says Washington isn't doing enough to shield consumers. Both can't be right, and the people paying the bills probably don't care much about who wins the press fight.
