California drivers could potentially pay more at the gas pump next year after a state environmental agency voted to approve a proposal to tighten fuel standards in the name of reducing reliance on fossil fuels and combatting air pollution.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) successfully amended its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program on Friday. The board issued a report last year estimating that the increased fuel standards would drive gas prices up by 47 cents per gallon by 2025.
However, a report from the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy suggests that CARB is underestimating the impact considerabley. The tightened fuel standards will actually increase fuel prices by 65 cents per gallon in 2025, 85 cents per gallon by 2030, and almost $1.50 per gallon by 2035, according to the University of Pennsylvania report.
CARB now says that its projections are inherently unreliable.
“Any estimate of cost from the LCFS regulatory proposal are inherently uncertain because they involve conducting estimates and speculative projections about what may happen in the future,” CARB staff said.
Steve Cliff, executive officer of CARB, confirmed the board’s initial 47-cent estimate was not an actual prediction. “That’s not a projection of prices at the pump,” Cliff told reporters on Friday.
California already has one of the highest gas prices in the nation, with a regular gas price average of $4.52 per gallon as of Monday, according to the American Automobile Association. That is $1.44 higher than the national average.
Created in 2007 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, LCFS previously sought to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and overall air pollution from transportation fuels by 20 percent between 2010 and 2030. Now that the regulation is amended in accordance with Democrats’ plans, that goal would be revised upward to a 30 percent reduction by 2030 and a 90 percent reduction by 2045.
GOP lawmakers in California have been opposed to CARB’s LCFS program, saying it will place a greater financial burden on residents. Republican state representative Tom Lackey is one such legislator who has been outspoken about the price hike. He testified in opposition to the policy during the hearing’s public-comment period.
“We’re the hard working men and women here in the state of California. We build homes, we fix roads, and we serve you when you dine out,” Lackey said. “To do this, we must drive hours each day to work to put food on the table for our families. This measure before you will cause us financial pain.”
The hearing lasted twelve hours on Friday before board members voted 12-2 to update the fuel-standards program. All but two of CARB’s 14 voting members are appointed by Democratic governor Gavin Newsom.
California Republicans attempted to pressure the board into delaying its vote on the matter by submitting a petition with nearly 13,000 signatures from concerned Californians. CARB proceeded with the vote anyway.
“The Newsom Administration is forcing this through to price gouge the public on gas and force us into electric vehicles before they are affordable and before there is an adequate charging infrastructure in place statewide,” Republican state senate minority leader Brian Jones said in a statement.
“It’s coercive class warfare at its worst and I, along with thousands of Californians, urge the board to vote this down today if they insist on bringing it up for a vote.”