• Facebook
  • Google Plus
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Header image

Times of San DiegoLogo

Local News and Opinion for San Diego

Menu

Skip to content
  • All
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Arts
  • Military
  • Tech
  • Life
  • Opinion
Search Thousands of San Diego Jobs
  • Man Beaten By Off-Duty Police Pointed Loaded Gun at Them, Officer Says
  • San Diego City Council Committee Moves to Regulate Dockless Scooters
  • Maureen Stapleton Retiring; County Water Authority 'Iron Lady' Since 1995
  • Chamber Finds San Diego Business Optimism Grew in January
  • 164 More Shelter Beds Readied for Downtown Homeless Next 2 Nights

Home » Opinion » This Article

Opinion: Jerry Brown’s Looming Climate-Change Challenge in California

Posted by Editor on July 12, 2017 in Opinion | 163 Views
| 0 Comments | Leave a Comment
Share This Article:
Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Smokestacks emitting greenhouse gases. Photo courtesy Environmental Protection Agency

By Dan Walters | CALmatters Commentary

“Desperate” may be too strong a word, but Gov. Jerry Brown, who aspires to global leadership of the climate change movement, very badly needs to renew “cap-and-trade” controls on California’s greenhouse gas emissions that will expire in 2020.

Support Times of San Diego's growth
with a small monthly contribution

Become a supporter

It’s one thing for Brown to join international leaders in issuing high-minded declarations on existential climate change perils, or to be treated as a head of state in Beijing, but quite another to persuade 81 state legislators in Sacramento to see things his way. They, unlike the soon-to-retire governor, will face whatever political consequences a more ambitious cap-and-trade system brings.

Brown’s evident eagerness to get it done stems from several factors, including the potential embarrassment if an aspiring global leader can’t sell it to his own Legislature.

And, of course, there’s the financial angle.

The state auctions emission allowances each quarter and recent proceeds have been spotty at best. Reauthorization, particularly before the next auction in August, would generate more action.

Dan Walters

The state has been counting on about $2.5 billion a year from its share of the bid pool, and spending it looms large. Indeed, divvying up future proceeds is a major factor in backroom negotiations over renewal.

Brown has a particular interest in maximizing auction results because his pet bullet train project is highly dependent on cap-and-trade money, without which it probably dies.

All of that said, Brown has found that writing something that will garner the requisite two-thirds legislative votes is a tough slog. Self-imposed deadlines have come and gone, with the latest being the Legislature’s summer recess nine days hence. With that in mind, Brown and legislative leaders unveiled an extension bill late Monday, hoping to have votes on Thursday.

Democrats hold 27 seats in the Senate, and 54 in the Assembly, the exact number of votes Brown needs. Democratic Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez departed this week to take the Los Angeles congressional seat he won in a special election.

However, Brown has not had unanimous Democratic support because the issue divides his party. Its resurgent left wing doesn’t like cap and trade, saying it does not do enough to force business compliance with tight emission controls, not only for carbon emissions but other pollutants as well. A new companion bill addresses other forms of pollution in hopes of shoring up Democratic support.

Business wants fairly loose rules, important for getting to to the magic number of legislative votes. Brown probably needs at least a few Republicans who back business and have demands of their own, one of which—a suspension of a controversial firefighting fee on rural property—is included in the new cap-and-trade bill.

Meanwhile, the Republican right is telling GOP members to back off and let the Democrats fashion an emission control program by themselves. As Jon Fleischman, publisher of the influential FlashReport, wrote, “Let them announce it, let them own it, and let them campaign on it.”

Underlying Fleischman’s warning to Republicans, and the reluctance of some Democrats to join Brown, is uncertainty about the political fallout as emission allowances become more expensive and costs make their way into consumer prices.

The current program adds about a dime a gallon to gasoline costs, but that will increase sharply if it is renewed and the state works toward more ambitious carbon reduction goals for 2030 and beyond. So, too, will the effects on utility rates and other consumer items.

Democratic legislators have already voted this year for Brown’s plan to sharply increase direct gas taxes, a plan that polls say is unpopular with voters. A repeal measure could be on the ballot next year and one Democrat who voted for gas taxes, Sen. Josh Newman, faces a recall campaign.

Brown evidently believes the new bill will overcome all of that and give him the symbolic win he so earnestly, and perhaps desperately, wants.


CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

Opinion: Jerry Brown’s Looming Climate-Change Challenge in California was last modified: July 13th, 2017 by Editor

>> Subscribe to Times of San Diego’s free daily email newsletter! Click here

Follow Us:
Facebooktwittergoogle_plusrss
Posted in Opinion | Tagged cap and trade, climate change, Jerry Brown, Sacramento
Search Thousands of San Diego Jobs

Get Times of San Diego by Email

Our free newsletter is delivered at 8 a.m. daily.

 


Most Popular Today

  • More Rainy, Snowy Weather Headed to San Diego Area More Rainy, Snowy Weather Headed to San Diego Area 1,224 views
  • Climate Change Could Cause Epic 'ARkStorm' in Southern California Climate Change Could Cause Epic ‘ARkStorm’ in Southern California 984 views
  • Voice of San Diego Sues SDSU, Seeks Nitty Gritty on Stadium Site Plans Voice of San Diego Sues SDSU, Seeks Nitty Gritty on Stadium Site Plans 491 views
  • Man in Fatal Oceanside Crash During Possible Race ID'd Man in Fatal Oceanside Crash During Possible Race ID’d 371 views
  • Safety Upgrades Completed at 15 of San Diego’s Most Crash-Prone Intersections Safety Upgrades Completed at 15 of San Diego’s Most Crash-Prone Intersections 314 views

©®2019 Times of San Diego LLC

Menu

  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service