16-05-2025
David Alvarez needs convincing
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With help from Camille von Kaenel and Eric He
LEERY OF LCFS: Assemblymember David Alvarez is stepping into one of California's trickiest climate policy arenas.
The San Diego Democrat is co-chairing a new Assembly committee devoted to studying the low-carbon fuel standard, the hot-button trading program for transportation emissions that the California Air Resources Board amended last year amid a flurry of debate over how much it would raise gasoline prices.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas convened the committee last month as part of his push to address 'the biggest cost drivers for Californians.' The LCFS made the list, alongside child care, nutrition and housing.
Alvarez spoke with POLITICO about his plans for the committee, the economic challenges of phasing out fossil fuels and the need to focus on disadvantaged communities.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why are you focusing on LCFS now, when it was last year's fight?
It's generally an approach by the speaker, who has a focus on looking at everything we do in California and trying to be responsive to the cost of living, and we haven't really done that with LCFS.
It was created under [Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger, and then has been interpreted by CARB on their own without any legislative direction. It's grown into a multi-billion-dollar-a-year program, of which the state sees no revenue, as an exchange between private parties, but there's a cost associated with that.
This is costing Californians in many ways, and so we have to determine what is the point that's worth the return on that investment, that is worth it from California's consumer standpoint.
What will this committee produce?
I think for sure, at minimum, a report. We should at least be considering whether there is any legislative authority that should be inserted into this program that has been 100 percent driven by regulators.
How concerned are you about the Energy Commission considering a profit cap on refiners and requiring them to keep more supplies on hand if they go down for maintenance?
I was pretty vocal during the special session last year and continue to be that this cannot come at the expense of consumers. That's the directive they received from the Legislature, and it's the expectation that I would have going forward.
The Valero refinery in Benicia is likely going to close. Should the Legislature respond?
I think everybody should be rethinking the policies that we implement when they lead to closures, and, ultimately, what it leads to in terms of cost to consumers, absolutely.
As far as more directly saying, 'No more closures,' I don't see that. How do you legislate no more closures? It's a private industry, and they do respond to their shareholders. I think we just should be very mindful that there are repercussions to all the actions we take.
Going forward, whatever comes before us, I think there will be a new lens through which we see legislation, and that's going to be, 'Is this going to cause potential closures, loss of supply that then leads to increasing costs?' And if so, it's going to be a much more difficult lift for a legislator who's trying to do that.
Is there an interest in rolling back Energy Commission rules if they prove to be a cost burden or cause refinery closures?
I know it's top of mind to the Energy Commission and Vice Chair [Siva] Gunda. I'm expecting to have a more at length conversation with him on this topic. I think it'd be fair to say they're not underestimating the concern of Valero, and what is otherwise happening. I think they have expressed themselves in a way that this is not being taken lightly; it's being taken seriously.
Thirty-five House Democrats, including a couple in California, joined Republicans last week in voting to roll back CARB's vehicle electrification rules last week. What do you think of them?
Who has access to these vehicles? I think you may be seeing some waning of interest, because for the average middle class family, certainly the lower income family, the realities of an electric vehicle serving their needs when of those families are commuting many, many miles for employment because it's become unaffordable to live in the urban core centers of communities, that's an issue.
Then you have communities like mine which are urban, but they are older, more middle class and lower income, where, again, access to electrification is just unrealistic. We need to analyze the reality of where we can get to, and aim for that. Whatever percentage it is, by whichever year, that is realistically accomplishable. Something that I'd like to hear from CARB is, 'We can do this, and these are the strategies on how we're going to get there and that are measurable,' and have outcomes that are more accountable on a more regular basis, not when there's a scoping plan every five years. — AN
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SORRY SCHOOLS: Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a proposal to fund programs designed to reduce electricity use during grid emergencies with money earmarked for school heating and air conditioning upgrades.
A budget bill released by the Department of Finance this week would redirect any unused funds in the CalSHAPE school facilities program to programs that incentivize residents to reduce their power during emergencies, POLITICO's Eric He reports.
School advocates are not happy. Mitch Steiger, a legislative representative for the California Federation of Teachers, slammed the bill during a climate budget hearing Thursday.
'The bill is actually just going to eliminate the CalSHAPE program that funds badly-needed HVAC and plumbing upgrades in public schools,' Steiger told lawmakers.
'It will give kids cancer and will force kids to learn in classrooms that are over 90 degrees,' he added. — EH, AN
AT THE SHORE: Rivas on Friday shook up the Coastal Commission, the high-stakes agency overseeing coastal development, appointing Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez. Lopez replaces the board's current chair, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings.
Rivas and Lopez, longtime allies whose districts overlap, cast the move as giving rural, inland farmworker communities more of a voice in coastal issues.
The change comes at a crucial time for the Coastal Commission, which has come under close political scrutiny in recent months by both President Donald Trump and Newsom over its decision to reject SpaceX's plan for increased rocket launches off the coast and its role overseeing coastal building in the wake of the Los Angeles fires. — CvK
STUCK IN NEUTRAL: California's electric vehicle sales are stalled, and that's complicating matters for officials backing the state's EV mandate.
Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 23 percent of all new car sales between January and March, according to data released Friday by the California Energy Commission, a nearly 1 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.
Tesla's sharp decline — sales dropped by more than 21 percent — is the main culprit for the overall sales slump. Registrations of EV models by other makers jumped by 14 percent, and automakers like BMW and Honda are gaining on Elon Musk's high-profile company, which failed to account for at least half of the state's EV sales for the first time since the commission started collecting data.
Automakers, car dealers and the oil industry are pushing to delay or nix California's mandate, which phases out sales of new gas and hybrid models by 2035, saying the leveling off of EV sales require the course change. State officials also acknowledge that EV sales have slowed, but argue the market is still on track.
'California's clean vehicle market continues to show strong sales, and we are undeterred by this period of limited growth, which is a normal, anticipated part of the technology adoption cycle,' said Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board. — AN
THE DELTA IN THE DELTA: Environmental groups have a new message for the California state agencies they're leaning on to deliver stronger protections for endangered species in the sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta: You can't trust the feds.
In a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board on Friday, a collection of eight groups detailed a series of examples from the past few months of federal water managers choosing to pump more water out of the Delta than their state counterparts, which the groups said harmed endangered species of fish.
In one example, the federal government failed to match the state, which reduced its pumping last month in line with a deal brokered with water agencies three years ago to reduce water use and pay for habitat conservation. (For the true water wonks out there, those are called the 'voluntary agreements.')
The environmental groups argue that the fed's inaction is sufficient grounds for the board to reject the 'voluntary agreements.' The board is considering adopting them this year as it updates its water quality rules in the Delta region. The Bureau of Reclamation 'cannot be allowed to exploit seeming ambiguities' in the 'voluntary agreements,' they wrote. 'Clear, understandable, and enforceable rules must be established.'
The board, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Water Resources did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon. — CvK
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