California Governor Gavin Newsom is demanding that the Trump administration disclose what planning and warnings it provided before military action against Iran that began Feb. 28.
Newsom said the conflict has cost American households more than $100 billion in additional fuel costs in the nearly 200 days since the war began. By Labor Day weekend, average nationwide gasoline prices reached $4 per gallon, the most expensive on that holiday in history according to AAA, while average diesel fuel prices reached $6 per gallon for the first time ever.
Brown University calculated that Americans have collectively spent more than $100 billion in extra fuel costs compared with what they would have paid absent the conflict, equating to more than $805 per U.S. household and more than $372 per California household.
Newsom is specifically asking Energy Secretary Chris Wright to answer what warnings he provided to President Trump and what analysis the Department of Energy conducted before the strikes. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Strait of Hormuz carries roughly 20 percent of all petroleum traded globally and has been a foundational principle of U.S. national security and energy policy for decades.
"The economic risks of war with Iran were no secret: everyone knew that it risked disrupting the Strait of Hormuz and sending global energy costs soaring. Yet Californians, like all Americans, are still bearing the cost of Donald Trump's failure to prepare for foreseeable threats to the U.S. economy," Newsom said.