California continues to lead the way on energy

By almost every measure, California is dramatically ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to fighting climate change. We have some of the strictest environmental regulations, more zero-emission cars on the road than any other state and, we are four years ahead of our self-imposed goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen since the 1990s. But if this week has proven anything, it’s that now is not the time to rest on our laurels. On Tuesday, the Trump administration rolled out an incredibly idiotic plan to undermine even more Obama-era pollution regulations,  this time on coal-fired power plants. Instead of the tough regulations under the Clean Power Act, which forced utilities to start transitioning to solar, wind, geothermal and other sources of renewable energy, Trump’s new Affordable Clean Energy plan would let utilities go back to burning dirty coal in states that have little interest in restricting carbon emissions. States like West Virginia. “We are putting our great coal miners back to work,” the president told cheering supporters there on Tuesday evening.

Governor Jerry Brown not impressed with president’s new energy initiative

Predictably, the reaction from Gov. Jerry Brown was adamant; a “declaration of war against America and all of humanity,” is what he called it.  Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he was considering filing yet another lawsuit against the Trump administration. Legal threats and tough talk are fine. But, with Senate Bill 100, California can do a lot more to help its climate agenda.
The bill, which is up for a vote in the Assembly as early as Monday, would set a new target of having 100 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable, carbon-free energy sources by 2045. It also would move up a related benchmark by four years, so 50 percent of California’s electricity would come from renewable sources by 2026 and 60 percent by 2030. In the past 15 years, utilities have nearly tripled their use of renewable sources to generate electricity, beating state legislators’ expectations for how quickly we move away from fossil fuels. Today, about 100,000 Californians now have jobs in the solar industry alone, according to the state’s Solar Energy Industry Association.

Dangerous health effects from dangerous policies

It also apparently matters little to Trump that 1,400 more Americans are likely to die every year from inhaling harmful particulates, according to his own Environmental Protection Agency, and that public health costs are likely to soar with an added increase of lung and heart disease.
But the president’s stubbornness should serve as a warning for supporters of Assembly Bill 813, which would create a regional energy market with more than a dozen other Western states.

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