Amended in Senate July 7, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 6, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1496

Introduced by Assembly Member Thurmond

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Williams)

February 27, 2015

An act to add Section 39731 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1496, as amended, Thurmond. Methane emissions.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. Existing law requires the state board to complete a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, as defined, in the state.

This bill would require the state board to take specified actions and conduct specified analyses with respect to methane emissions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) Methane is a gas that is emitted from both natural and human
sources. Its concentration in the global atmosphere has more than
doubled since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Methane
is a short-lived climate pollutant with a lifetime of only about 12
years when released into the atmosphere. It is an extremely potent
greenhouse gas, with 20 to 30 times the warming power of carbon
dioxide over a 100-year period and more than 80 times over a
20-year period.

(b) The life-cycle greenhouse gas emission from the drilling,
production, and transportation of natural gas can result in methane
leaks, and there is a need for much better information on the
life-cycle methane emissions resulting from California’s imports
of natural gas.

(c) Recent satellite studies have shown methane hot spots in the
San Joaquin Valley and higher levels of emissions than were
previously estimated from the principal sources of methane in
California. There is an urgent need to improve the monitoring and
measurement of methane emissions from the major sources in
California.

SEC. 2.  

Section 39731 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:

39731.  

The state board shall do all of the following:

(a) Undertake, in consultation with districts that monitor
methane, monitoring and measurements of high-emission methane
hot spots in the state using the best available scientific and technical
methods.

begin delete

(b) Carry out a life-cycle greenhouse gas emission analysis of
natural gas produced and imported into the state using the best
available scientific and technical methods.

end delete begin delete

(c) Update greenhouse gas emission factors for electric
generation with natural gas and the use of natural gas as a
transportation fuel.

end delete begin insert

(b) Consult with federal and state agencies, independent
scientific experts, and any other appropriate entities to gather or
acquire the necessary information for the purpose of carrying out
a life-cycle greenhouse gas emission analysis of natural gas
produced and imported into the state using the best available
scientific and technical methods.

end insert begin insert

(c) Update relevant policies and programs to incorporate the
information gathered and acquired pursuant to subdivisions (a)
and (b).

end insert

(d) Review, in consultation with independent scientific experts,
the most recent available scientific data and reports on the
atmospheric reactivity of methane as a precursor to the formation
of photochemical oxidants and evaluate whether methane should
be reclassified as a contributor to the formation of air pollution.