The California Air Resources Board voted 12 to two last month to approve changes to the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, as reported by Reuters. Established in 2011, the law aims to slash greenhouse gas pollution from the transportation sector by toughening state climate policy for fuel producers.
The Low Carbon Fuel Standard is designed to discourage fuel makers from generating more carbon emissions than a baseline set by the board.
Members of the board insisted the changes were essential following the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, who in the past has vowed to rescind California's ability to set its own vehicle emission rules.
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"The world is watching California to see if we will maintain leadership or fracture under internal pressure for perfectionism," said state Senator Henry Stern, a non-voting board member.
The latest amendment to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard calls for a 30% reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 2030, and an additional call for a 90% reduction goal by 2045. As transportation accounts for approximately 50% of California's greenhouse gas pollution, this will continue to put California's greenhouse emissions in decline. The state has managed to decrease the carbon intensity of its economy by 55% in the last 20 years, according to data from the California Air Resources Board.
Governor Gavin Newsom gave local governments greater autonomy to regulate the oil and gas industry earlier this year, signing a new set of laws aimed at tackling idle wells that leak toxic chemicals into the local environment and threaten civilians.
The primary proponents of the amendment are electric and hybrid vehicle makers and biofuel producers, who produce renewable transportation fuels from organic waste sources, some of which are plants grown strictly for fuel and thus not considered to be major climate solutions. Critics voiced concern about the prioritization of fuels made by food crops and a potential increase in consumer gas prices.
"For California's climate policies to succeed, they must protect the environment while safeguarding those most susceptible to economic impacts," wrote Dean Florez, a member of the California Air Resources Board and a former state senator, at CalMatters.org. "Effective climate action must be ambitious, inclusive, transparent and equitable. The proposed fuel standard amendments, however, fall short of these ideals, focusing on aspirational targets without a fair or clear path to achieve them."
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