Over the years the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Air Quality Management District (AQMD) have been viewed by the business community as being over bearing and business unfriendly, especially since California is already the most environmentally regulated location on earth. Well, with the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 617 (C. Garcia, 2017), the California Air Resources Board (CARB) established The Community Air Protection Program.
In the years ahead, CARB will look for recommendations to be taken under advisement for directions for much of their “emissions” work from 10 communities throughout California with Local Steering Committees, with CARB hand-picked community volunteers from local residents, businesses, and agencies within each of those 10 communities which would most likely be the locals representing Build-Absolutely-Nothing-Anywhere-Near-Anyone (BANANA). It’s incomprehensible that local “advisory” groups will attempt to micromanage existing federal and state emissions standards and attempt to set new “standards” that are acceptable to the local communities, which would necessitate CARB and the AQMD taking those recommendations under advisement and/or going through the legal and regulatory activities required to make any changes to existing emission standards.
Today, we’re constantly being bombarded with reminders and progress reports toward achieving California’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and an 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.
Looking back, California’s flagship climate change policy Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Initiative was signed into law in 2006 when California was a miniscule contributor to the world’s greenhouse gases. Statistically, the World is generating about 46,000 million metric tons of GHG’s, while California has been generating about 429 million metric tons, which is less than one percent of the world’s contributions.
Now, more than a decade since the passage of AB32, California remains as the most environmentally regulated location in the world, yet California still contributes a miniscule less than one percent, and has had little to no impact on the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Both California’s in-state oil production, and Alaskan oil imports are both in-decline to meet the States’ energy needs. California is sitting on one of the largest shale reserves and ocean crude oil reserves in the country in the Monterrey Shale and Pacific Ocean. Shockingly, California increased crude oil imports from foreign countries from 5% in 1992 to 56% in 2017 as a result of the States’ choice to not drill for that in-state oil, requiring in-state manufacturers to “export” billions of dollars annually to oil rich foreign countries to import foreign crude oil to meet the state’s energy demands.
In 2017, California imported crude oil from foreign countries at the rate of more than 354 million barrels annually from oil rich foreign countries, costing California more than $26.6 billion annually at the Brent Average Crude Oil Spot Price which was recently $75.36 per barrel for September 2018. . This equates to “exporting” more than $73,000,000 per day on a daily basis from California to Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Columbia, Iraq, Kuwait, Brazil, and Mexico and others for the crude oil energy needs of California.
California households are already paying about 40 percent more than the national average for electricity according to 2018 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Continuation of that emissions crusade at the expense of our 40 million citizens, and continued funding for the High Speed train, will further fuel the growth of our homelessness and poverty populations.
In addition, Californians continue to pay almost $1.00 more per gallon of fuel than the rest of the country due to a) the state sales tax per gallon which are some of the highest in the country; b) refinery reformatting costs per gallon; c) cap and trade program compliance costs per gallon; d) low-carbon fuel standard program compliance costs per gallon; and e) renewable fuels standard program compliance costs per gallon. More costs onto fuels are projected by 2030 from cap and trade and the low-carbon fuel standard that may add ANOTHER $1.00 to $2.00 per gallon to fuel.
With California energy and fuel costs among the highest in the nation, the State is leading the nation in the numbers of homeless and those on poverty:
- California has 25% of the homeless in the nation, and double the national average of homeless/1000 (page 12)
- State by State Poverty rates, geographically adjusted, places California at 23.8%, the highest in the nation.
In retrospect, the establishment of 10 communities throughout California with Local Steering Committees, with CARB hand-picked volunteer BANANA’s from local residents, businesses, and agencies within each of those 10 communities, was a brilliant move to ensure job security for the foreseeable decades for CARB and the AQMD.
However, like previous efforts to overregulate, there has been a miniscule impact to lower California’s one percent contributions the worlds GHG’s, but those regulations have successfully increased the cost of electricity and fuel. The impact of increased cost to society has significantly increased the cost of living in California and contributed to the growing poverty and homeless populations.
The Community Air Protection Program of AB617 appears to be a “legally unethical” move by California to provide job security for more bureaucrats.