California Air Resources Board approves controversial emissions program changes that could raise gas prices
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted Friday to approve changes to a key climate program aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions from transportation fuels.
The program has a wide swath of critics -- from environmentalists to the oil industry -- with some analysts estimating changes to the state's low carbon fuel standard, or LCFS, could increase prices at the pump by as much as 65 cents a gallon.
The plan approved late Friday at the end of a 12-hour meeting will increase the state's emission reduction targets and fund charging infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles. It also will phase out incentives for capturing methane emissions from dairy farms to turn into fuel.
Environmental groups have criticized the program for stimulating the production of biofuels, which are derived from sources including plants and animal waste, when they say the state should focus more on supporting power for electric vehicles. They argue the proposal fails to adequately address those concerns.
The oil industry, state lawmakers and others have said the agency hasn't been transparent about how the proposed updates could increase gas prices.
"Today's decision by CARB will not only make it more expensive for families, but also disproportionately affect residents in rural communities in my district who must travel long distances for groceries, healthcare, etc.," Republican Senator Brian Dahle said following the vote. "Californians shouldn't have to forfeit taking their family out to dinner in order to afford putting gas in the car just to get to work."
Agency staff released a cost-benefit analysis last year estimating that the initial proposal could have led to an increase in gas prices by 47 cents per gallon by 2025. But staff has not repeated the analysis since later updating the proposal, and the agency contends it cannot accurately predict gas prices.
"If you're going to ask drivers to pay a lot, which is what this program proposal is going to do, I think you need to be able to make the case that it's worth paying for," said Danny Cullenward, a climate economist with the University of Pennsylvania's Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.
Gas prices in California are on average $1.47 a gallon higher than the national average mainly because of its gas taxes, the highest in the country.
Some state lawmakers say new policies to lower carbon emission standards would hurt everyday residents.
"This will have a direct impact on pocketbooks. Is it the right time to actually move forward on these types of regulations? Or should we have a little moratorium and let Californians breathe," Republican State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh said in an interview last month.
Gas prices could increase by as high as 85 cents a gallon by 2030, and $1.50 per gallon by 2035 under the proposal, according to an estimate from Cullenward. Cullenward said his figures and the estimates initially released by board staff are not an apples-to-apples comparison, in part because his projection uses 2023 dollars and theirs used 2021 dollars.
State Assemblymember Tom Lackey, a Republican representing Palmdale in Southern California, said at the meeting that his constituents cannot afford an increase in gas prices.
"On behalf of the people of the 34th Assembly district, I ask you to not approve this rulemaking and find other alternatives that won't cost us quite that much," he said.
The California Air Resources Board says the program will ultimately lower the cost of sustainable transportation fuels.
The agency first approved the low carbon fuel standard in 2009, and it was the first of its kind in the nation. It is part of California's overall plan to achieve so-called carbon neutrality by 2045, meaning the state will remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits. The state has passed policies in recent years to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel powered cars, trucks, trains and lawn mowers.
A CARB spokesperson issued a statement that read, in part: "The Low Carbon Fuel Standard is an effective climate and air quality program that has successfully reduced the use of fossil diesel in the state by 70% by incentivizing the development of cleaner fuels that give consumers increased options."
"In fact, we estimate that the program will reduce transportation costs 42% over the next 20 years through increased options that are also better for the environment and public health," the statement added. "That is good for consumers and good climate action."
Suncheth Bhat — chief commercial officer for EV Realty, an electric vehicle infrastructure company — called the program "one of the most powerful, transformational policies" to speed up the transition to electric vehicles.
The vote comes a day after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called the state Legislature into a special session to protect some of California's environmental and other liberal policies ahead of former President Donald Trump's second term in office.
"CARB's justification for this version of the LCFS as a bridge for combustion fuels while we transition to zero-emissions needs to be reconsidered in light of the profoundly altered landscape we suddenly landed in this week," Adrian Martinez, deputy managing attorney at environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, said of Trump's election win.
The Trump administration in 2019 revoked California's ability to enforce its own tailpipe emissions standards. President Joe Biden later restored the state's authority, which was upheld in federal court.
Future challenges from the Trump administration could lead to long court battles, said David Pettit, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute.
"In the meantime, I think we still need something ... to enhance the development of electric vehicles and the electric vehicle infrastructure," Pettit said. "The LCFS is a way that we might be able to do that."
