The energy crisis gives the state an opportunity to justify its green reputation.

The global energy crisis, triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has given Joe Biden's presidency a slogan usually associated with Republican rhetoric on energy independence: "Drill, baby, drill". In addition to releasing 1 million barrels of oil per day from America's strategic oil reserves, the Department of the Interior will resume the sale of new leases for oil and gas drilling on federal land, thereby backtracking on Mr Biden's campaign promise to end the practice. The president, no longer sounding like a Republican, has proposed that long-term energy independence can be achieved by America moving away from fossil fuels.

A driver's genuine heartache at the petrol pump is felt most acutely in California. The average price of a gallon of petrol in America on 20 April was $4.11; in Los Angeles, which is full of motorways, it was $5.79. However, despite the fact that California consumes a lot of fuel, its representatives claim it is America's greenest state. In a recent speech, the Governor of California, Democrat Gavin Newsom (Gavin Newsom), declared that "California has no peers" in the field of climate policy.