Oil giants derail California bill to reduce gasoline use by 50%

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Oil giants derail California bill to reduce gasoline use by 50%

Anita Chabria in Sacramento
Thursday 10 September 2015 14.48 BST

An ambitious environmental bill in California that attempted to legislate up to a 50% reduction in gasoline use by 2030 had been derailed by the oil industry in the final week of the legislative session.

Senate president pro Tempore Kevin de Leon announced on Wednesday that he would amend the bill, SB350, to drop the petroleum provisions. It will be changed in the Assembly Natural Resources committee as soon as Thursday to deal only with increasing the state’s renewable electricity supply and boosting energy efficiency in buildings through retrofits and upgrades.

With only two days left in the legislative session, “we could not cut through the million-dollar smokescreen created by a single special-interest with a singular motive and a bottomless war chest”, he said in a statement.

The Western States Petroleum Association – a trade organization representing petroleum companies including Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobile said in a statement that the fuel provisions were “arbitrary and infeasible”, but with that portion of the bill deleted, “we can move forward and work together on other climate change efforts”.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/10/oil-industry-california-bill-gasoline-sb350

[ladjf]

1. This has been going on, unabated , for decades. The oil industry only wants money.

They don't care how much damage they do to the quality of lives of our citizens. Will their strangle hold ever be broken?

[abelenkpe]

2. O yay.

Let's keep polluting the air water and land so oil companies can profit.

[mrdmk]

3. Here is the major problem with the bill

<sinp from OP's link>

Oil industry groups took out full-page newspaper ads as well as television and radio spots warning that the bill would lead to gas rationing, restrictions on driving and government monitoring of driving habits via vehicle computers.

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Yes the Oil were going all out against this bill (SB350) and are looking at their bottom line. The Major Oil are part of the problem thus, are not part of the solution. Also the media did a hack job reporting on this issue. The bill in its current form was doomed from the onset.


From the New York Times

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With little time and opposition from oil interests, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative Democrats were forced on Wednesday to retreat from their ambitious proposal to address climate change by dropping a key mandate to cut California's petroleum use by 50 percent.

Amid the political setback, they vowed to intensify their fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through other means and pledged to continue to champion the environmental cause for the good of future generations. Brown, a Democrat who has made climate change the centerpiece of his final term, said state regulators will announce toughened reporting rules on low-carbon fuel standards as early as next week.

"I'd say oil has won the skirmish, but they've lost the bigger battle," Brown said. "Because I'm more determined than ever to make our regulatory regime work for the people of California — cleaning up the air, reducing the petroleum and creating the green jobs that are going to put hundreds of thousands of people to work."

Brown and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, had pushed a far-reaching proposal to cut petroleum use by half, boost renewable-electricity use to 50 percent and double energy efficiency in existing buildings. They dropped the mandate to cut oil use from their proposal, SB350, amid fierce opposition from business groups and oil companies that sought to strip a powerful state regulatory board from setting vehicle emissions and fuel standards.

link: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/09/09/us/ap-us-xgr-california-climate-change.html?_r=0


There was also TV news reports that were hack reports.

Jerry Brown did California no favors by putting an intrusive bill into play then having no Public Relations to back up the bill intentions.