Add The California Post on Google The Western Gateway Pipeline is a proposal that would end California’s energy isolation and bring lower fuel prices to drivers across the Golden State.
California’s Democrat politicians can be expected to oppose anything that increases the supply of fuel. That is why federal intervention is necessary.
Fortunately, all it will take is legislation in Congress — legislation that I have introduced, and that I am working hard to pass, which would allow the Western Gateway Pipeline to be built, quickly and safely, bringing much-needed relief at the pump across the Golden State.
The price of gasoline is displayed at a filling station on August 19, 2026, in San Diego, California. (REUTERS) REUTERS As the summer comes to an end, many Americans have used their precious time off work enjoying our beautiful national parks, road-tripping to visit family or heading to the beach to soak up the sun.
Unfortunately for Californians, the cost of driving to their favorite summer destination this year was far higher than for the rest of the country. Refinery closures, the highest state gas taxes in the country, and the state’s isolated energy markets have made California the most expensive place to fill up in the country.
Fortunately for Californians, the energy sector has proposed a solution to the state’s energy woes: the Western Gateway Pipeline. This 1,300-mile pipeline would establish a new supply route from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast, transporting a projected 230,000 barrels per day of essential refined products, such as gasoline and diesel.
The project would include reversing the flow of several currently active pipelines through the Midwest, as well as constructing new pipelines to connect with existing infrastructure.
The Western Gateway Pipeline would be a critical piece of infrastructure that would benefit tens of millions of people, bolster our national security, and give the West Coast much-needed flexibility when it comes to its frequently volatile fuel supply.
It would also mean California could break its dependence on oil from the war-town Middle East, which has meant that Californians are more vulnerable to distant war and disruption than Americans in other states.
The one major obstacle that would be almost certain to delay or even prevent the Western Gateway Pipeline from happening is the bureaucratic nightmare that is our regulatory permitting process.
Gas prices are displayed at a gas station on July 1, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post) Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post Western Gateway Pipeline backers –– Kinder Morgan, Phillips 66 and HF Sinclair –– are targeting a completion date in 2029, “subject to the receipt of all permits and regulatory approvals.” That essentially means that the project could be done by 2029 if only the government and environmental extremists were able to get out of the way of this critical project.
We simply can’t afford unnecessary delays in building critical energy infrastructure.
That’s why I recently introduced the National Security Interstate Pipeline Act, which would allow the president of the United States to designate any interstate pipeline project as critical to our national security and necessary to ensure energy supply for military installations, the defense industrial base or critical infrastructure resilience.
This legislation would give the president the authority to, if necessary, waive certain aspects of federal environmental law that have long stymied similar energy projects in the past to prevent improper delay to the project.
The National Security Interstate Pipeline Act will be a game-changer for California and the country. It will expand our state’s fuel supply, reduce our dangerous dependence on a shrinking pool of in-state refineries, and provide a critical buffer against the supply disruptions that have driven California gas prices to crisis levels.
The private sector has stepped up and made the investment; my job as a member of Congress is to make sure the government gets out of the way and lets them build it.
Rep. Ken Calvert represents the 41st Congressional District as is running for election in the newly drawn 40th Congressional District.
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