Thanks to refinery closures, lack of pipelines, and something called the Jones Act, California is experiencing sky-high energy prices because Democrat policies mean that 40 percent of the state’s gasoline comes from the Bahamas.

Seriously, this is nuts, but this is what you get when you give Democrats veto-proof majorities over your state. See if you can follow this…

Refined gasoline is being shipped out of the United States thousands of miles to the Bahamas… And then it is shipped from the Bahamas to the failed state of California.

“Shipments on the circuitous route are increasing. California imported more gasoline in November than ever before, with more than 40% coming from the Bahamas,” Bloomberg reports. “The … phenomenon isn’t likely to disappear soon, thanks to a combination of disappearing oil refineries, a lack of interstate pipelines and a loophole in a 106-year-old maritime law.”

“California has among the strictest environmental regulations in the US, making it costly for energy companies to operate in,” the report adds.

Already, Phillips 66 closed its California refinery last October. Valero Energy just paid over a billion dollars to get the hell out of the former Golden State in April. So, what can the state do when trucks can’t back up to refineries, load up, and distribute to the state’s gas stations?

Well, with all that oil right there in the Gulf, a sane state would use a pipeline to bring it all in. But California is not a sane state, so there is no pipeline. After all, is cheap energy for millions of people really worth pissing off a handful of Indians and shrieking white women?

What does that leave as an alternative?

Tankers, right?

Bring it in over the ocean, right?

Except.

Meet the Jones Act.

This 106-year-old law requires that “any goods shipped between US ports must travel on US-built, owned and operated vessels.”

Trouble is, there are only 55 Jones Act-compliant tankers on the planet, compared to 7,000 that are not. So…

To get around the Jones Act, American-produced oil is shipped to the Bahamas and then to California.

This, in turn, makes refined gasoline from the Far East competitive, which means California’s gas prices — as of today — cost $4.60 on average per gallon, compared to the national average of $2.92.

Here’s the thing…

How is it more environmentally friendly to 1) expend all that fuel moving those tankers thousands and thousands of miles across the ocean, which 2) creates a much bigger risk of an environmental catastrophe than a pipeline or a refinery?

You see, the goal is not and never was about helping the environment. If it was, California Democrats would drill and refine internally and build pipelines (which are much cheaper than a high-speed rail).

Democrats don’t care about the environment. What they care about is control. By exploding the cost of energy, they gain control over our lives. The harder things get, the more we rely on government. Using environmental guilt, Democrats want us all to move to their failed cities to live in public housing. There, they will take our guns, end homeschooling, outlaw religion as bigoted, and regulate our speech. We’d either live on government assistance or take public transportation to our soul-killing government jobs.

John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.