if we pull the trigger and leave, wherever we land will get a little redder, not bluer. however, as we are both natives, it’s an option we really don’t want to exercise, but it’s looking less and less like we’ll have a choice.

If those comments are typical of 20%-40% of Californians, how many Chevron employees even tell their neighbors or friends where they work? But it’s also possible that the more conservative among them will be glad to transfer and the rest will look for other job opportunities, if possible.

As one comment suggests, maybe the IT people can find other jobs that aren’t oil and gas-related, but it strikes me as difficult for mid- to upper-lever people to find comparable pay and seniority. But engineers, geologists, and other employees whose work is based on their oil and gas knowledge might not have many other options.

Exploring for and producing oil and gas are risky ventures. Thus, while people who do that for a living have to be risk-takers, the successful ones quickly learn to limit avoidable risks. I think that’s why many are conservatives, especially among independent operators but also at the major oil and gas companies. But I have no idea what California’s Chevron managers and employees are like, but my suspicion is they are not as conservative.

scola 7:33 AM on December 21, 2012
I’m going to guess that if it is a mix of IT and “advanced energy” technology that 400 of those people will quit rather than move to Houston. I mean, on the one hand there are a plethora of opportunities in the Bay Area for those fields, and if the people are any good, with the amount of VC capital flying and funding firm expansion, they could get a job by dinnertime. On the other hand, who wants to live in Houston?

Bad decision on Chevron’s part if you ask me. Good news for local firms.

sagefeldemeyer6 7:41 AM on December 21, 2012
Good riddance! There–I said it! Do we have to depend on dirty energy, 20th century jobs to have a thriving economy? Time to change the paradigm, while we STILL have a planet earth that is habitable.

ddopinion 8:35 AM on December 21, 2012
Good riddance if they closed the refineries…not realistic, but I still wish it.

malcolmketterin 7:21 AM on December 21, 2012
good philosophical question for our time, are jobs at a sociopathic corporation worth saving in an extremely job-poor area? just how far must we sell ourselves out?

But they aren’t really coming voluntarily. Chevron is transferring its employees to Texas. It’s true they can decline the transfer but that likely means they will be out of a job, and I’m not aware of many other oil and gas companies in California where they can get jobs.

Re: Ag80′s comment, I think the downside is these Californians bring their attitudes and voting patterns to Texas. It’s possible (but unlikely) that they are as conservative as Texans are, so that might make it a little easier for the communities they settle in to turn purple.

All that would do is make California more Democratic: the people fleeing the Pyrite State are probably more conservative and more Republican than average, people seeking economic opportunity, not welfarism. It’s possible that they’ll be bringing more socially liberal attitudes with them, but economically, they’re just the people you want.