The California Air Resources Board has just achieved what the state Legislature could not get done.
Buckets of tears shed by environmentalists early this month when the Legislature failed – surprisingly – to pass a 50 percent reduction in fuel usage by 2030, largely dried up last Friday because of a compensatory action.
There is more than one way for determined environmentalists to skin the powerful oil and gas industry.
When the California Air Resources Board voted to slash carbon content of liquid fuels a husky 10 percent by 2020, the green victory may not have been quite as sweet as the Legislature’s would have been.
Unmistakably, though, it was a substantive triumph over the muscular oil and gas industry.
A meaningful action, worthy of celebration by the environmental community, Dr. Joe Lyou, a board member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District for the past eight years, told the newspaper.
The regulatory move “is comparable to what the Legislature was trying to do,” he said.
“The bottom line is that we will be using less traditional fuels, such as gasoline and diesel. This will encourage and require alternative fuel, which could be everything from renewable diesel to electric transportation and renewable natural gas.”
Dr. Lyou, a Culver City native who is executive director of the Coalition for Clean Air, said that “what happened in the Legislature was more symbolic than meaningful in the long term. Petroleum producers recognized that California is intent on achieving its climate and clean air goals and standards.
“Really,” said Dr. Lyou, “that doesn’t happen without heavy reliance on alternatives to petroleum fuels.”
The latest carbon emissions regulation presumably comes with a price tag for consumers.
Sacramento is projecting that gasoline costs could rise 13 cents per gallon by 2020.
Has anyone checked lately? Gas prices perennially are liquid, rising and falling by 13 cents and more at hundreds of California services.
