California air quality regulators late Friday approved a plan to strengthen limits on the planet-warming emissions from gasoline and diesel fuels, a move expected to raise gas prices but bring public health benefits.
Members of the California Air Resources Board approved amendments to the state low carbon fuel standard during a Friday meeting in Riverside that stretched 11 hours and featured scores of public speakers. Twelve of the appointed board members voted for the changes and two voted against. The new standard will carry lower limits for the carbon intensity of transportation fuels that can be sold in the state without penalty.
The tougher regulations will reduce asthma symptoms for more than 70,000 Californians, according to the board’s estimate, and pump $100 billion of private investment into clean energy infrastructure over the next two decades. Board chair Liane Randolph said that will help protect residents from air pollution and climate-fueled natural disasters — as well as price hikes by gas companies.
“We cannot afford to continue with the status quo,” Randolph said.
But the change is controversial. State Republicans have pilloried the board and Governor Gavin Newsom, whose appointees dominate the board, for driving up gas prices, a hot-button issue throughout the state, which currently has the country’s second-highest price per gallon, behind only Hawaii, according to AAA.
The vote came amid a moment of intense political debate about inflation. That helped fuel the walloping Democrats received locally and nationally in Tuesday’s election, observers say.
It also comes a month after a special legislative session that saw Democrats pass a plan to create a state fuel reserve. The board decides air pollution and climate policy for California, which is often followed by other states. Of its 16 members, 12 were appointed by Newsom and confirmed by the state Senate. The other members are appointed by state lawmakers.
Last year, the board estimated that the proposed change could drive a 47-cent price increase in 2025 that could reach 79 cents in 2035, as refineries pass costs to customers. CARB’s executive officer, Steven Cliff, and board staff now say it’s impossible to know if the changes will raise gas prices.
Currently, the fuel standard adds about 8 cents per gallon of gas, said Aaron Smith, an economics professor at University of California, Davis. He estimates that the toughened regulations could add between 20 and 84 cents per gallon by 2030, depending on the regulatory market.
“We do not need lower CARB emissions — good grief!” said California resident Melanie Arace in a public comment. “If this is all about the air quality, one sliver of our country isn’t going to clean the air of the entire planet. Quit taxing us to death!”
Environmentalists and economists said the program is flawed in its design during the marathon meeting on Friday, when more than 100 people spoke to the board. Many were parents of children with lung diseases and environmental justice activists who said the standard doesn’t go far enough to reduce air pollution and climate change.
Although California prioritizes the …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
