BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1125
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1125
AUTHOR: Pavley & Lara
AMENDED: March 28, 2014
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 30, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rebecca Newhouse
SUBJECT : CALIFORNIA GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS ACT OF 2006:
EMISSION TARGETS
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the California Global Warming Solutions
Act of 2006 (Health and Safety Code �38500 et seq.):
1) Requires the Air Resources Control Board (ARB) to determine
the 1990 statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions level and
approve a statewide GHG emissions limit that is equivalent
to that level, to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt GHG
emissions reductions measures by regulation.
2) Requires ARB to prepare and approve a scoping plan by
January 1, 2009, for achieving the maximum technologically
feasible and cost-effective reductions in GHG emissions
from sources or categories of sources of GHGs by 2020. The
plan must be updated at least once every five years.
3) Specifies that the statewide GHG emissions limit remains in
effect unless otherwise amended or repealed.
4) Expresses Legislative intent that the emissions limit be
used to maintain and continue reductions in emissions of
GHGs beyond 2020.
5) Requires ARB to make recommendations to the Governor and
the Legislature on how to continue GHG emissions reductions
beyond 2020.
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This bill :
1) Requires ARB, in consultation with the Climate Action Team,
other relevant state and local agencies and interested
stakeholders, to develop reduction targets for GHG
emissions and short-lived climate pollutants with high
global warming potentials for 2030 in an open and public
process by January 1, 2016.
2) Requires the ARB, in developing the targets, to consider a
level of statewide reduction for 2030 that achieve all of
the following:
a) Promotes cooperation and collaboration with other
states, the federal government, and other nations or
jurisdictions to mitigate medium- and long-term risks of
global climate change and associated adverse impacts on
health, safety, and welfare in the state.
b) Advances the state's economic competitiveness by
minimizing leakage and stimulating innovation.
c) Significantly mitigates adverse public health impacts
in disadvantaged communities through reductions of
short-lived climate pollutants, in concert with other
regulations limiting the emissions of criteria or toxic
air pollutants.
3) Defines "short-lived climate pollutants" as agents that
have a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere, from a
few days to a few decades, and a warming influence on the
climate with high global warming potentials.
4) Requires the ARB to report the targets to the Legislature.
5) Makes the reporting requirement inoperative on January 1,
2020.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author:
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Current law, established by AB 32 in 2006, provides
sufficient administrative authority to the ARB to
continue reducing emissions beyond 2020, which could
include a binding 2030 emissions limit. Health and
Safety Code Section 38511 states that the
Legislature intends for AB 32's statewide emissions
limit (1990 levels by 2020) 'continue in existence
and be used to maintain and continue reductions in
emissions of greenhouse gases beyond 2020' and
requires ARB to 'make recommendations to the
Governor and the Legislature on how to continue
reductions of greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020.'
However, even though reduction targets for 2030 are
permitted by current law, the ARB has not, in its
discretion, as exercised through the Scoping Plan,
decided to develop such a target. Instead, the
Scoping Plan sets out a timetable of emissions
reduction measures (see Table 6 in Scoping Plan)
that, in some instances, extend beyond 2020.
However, this timetable does not provided a target
for what these various measures are intended to
yield in aggregate with respect to total emissions
reductions.
SB 1125 is premised on the notion that setting a
concrete emissions reduction target is sound policy,
to ensure regulatory and environmental certainty.
Existing administrative avenues may still be
exercised to remedy this problem but if there is any
ambiguity in current law, SB 1125 would clarify, in
an amendment to the current section of AB 32 that
addresses post-2020 emissions reductions, that a
timetable of emissions reduction is not enough, and
that the Legislature intends for ARB to develop
overall targets for 2030 emissions reductions.
2) Background .
Climate Action Team (CAT) . Executive Order S-3-05 also
established the CAT for state agencies in 2005, chaired by
the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection
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Agency (CalEPA). The executive order tasks CAT with
coordinating statewide efforts to implement global warming
emission reduction programs and the state's climate
adaptation strategy.
Updated Draft Scoping Plan . ARB released a draft of the
updated Scoping Plan October 2013, and updated this draft
in February of this year. ARB staff expects to bring an
updated Scoping Plan document to the Board for
consideration sometime in late spring.
The update asserts that California is on track to meet the
near-term 2020 greenhouse gas limit and is well positioned
to maintain and continue reductions beyond 2020 as
required by AB 32.
The February 2014 updated Scoping Plan draft describes
policies, actions, and strategies in the energy,
transportation, fuels, agriculture, waste, and natural
lands sectors as a means to continue emission reductions
in each of these sectors. The draft also emphasizes the
need for California to establish a mid-term statewide
emission reduction target "informed by climate science, to
frame the additional suite of policy measures,
regulations, planning efforts, and investments in clean
technologies that are needed to continue driving down
emissions."
The draft update includes a summary of the recent climate
science, including short-lived climate pollutants.
Scientific research indicates that an increase in the
global average temperature of 2?C (3.6?F) above
pre-industrial levels, which is only 1.1?C (2.0?F) above
present levels, poses severe risks to natural systems and
human health and well-being.
However, even with 2?C stabilization, sea level rise of
several meters beyond 2100 is likely. To have a good
chance of avoiding temperatures above those levels,
studies have focused on a goal of stabilizing the
concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere at
or below the 450 parts per million (ppm) CO2-equivalent.
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In early May 2013, the Mauna Loa monitoring station
located at the top of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano, recorded
CO2 of 400 ppm (measured at 316 ppm when the station made
its first measurements in 1958).
Short-lived Climate Pollutants . The updated draft Scoping
plan notes that ARB will develop a short-lived climate
pollutant strategy by 2015 that will include an inventory
of sources and emissions, the identification of additional
research needs, and a plan for developing necessary control
measures. CO2 remains in the atmosphere for centuries,
which makes it the most critical greenhouse gas to reduce
in order to limit long-term climate change. However,
climate pollutants including methane, tropospheric ozone,
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and soot (black carbon), are
relatively short-lived (anywhere from a few weeks to 15
years), but have much higher global warming potentials than
CO2.
New research suggests that black carbon is the second
largest man-made contributor to global warming and its
influence on the climate has been greatly underestimated.
Another recent study published in the journal Nature
Climate Change found that reducing emissions of short-lived
climate pollutants, including soot and methane, by 30 to
60% by 2050 would slow the annual rate of sea level rise by
about 18% by 2050. In addition, the study found that,
compared to just cutting CO2 emissions, reducing the
release of short-lived climate pollutants would do more to
slow sea level rise before 2050, but that lowering CO2
emissions would be required to limit warming and
warming-related impacts beyond that point.
According to the updated draft Scoping Plan, the three
short-lived climate pollutants with the greatest
implications for California are the following:
a) Black carbon: Black carbon, a component of soot,
also known as PM 2.5, comes from diesel engines and
incomplete burning of carbon sources. Wildfires
contribute almost 50% of the total black carbon
emissions in the state. In addition to being a powerful
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global warming pollutant, black carbon is associated
with numerous negative health impacts and is designated
a potential human carcinogen. Black carbon is not listed
under AB 32 as a greenhouse gas subject to AB 32
regulations. However, due to known health and air
quality impacts, ARB adopted truck and bus regulations
in 2008 to control diesel PM emissions. ARB also
administers the Carl Moyer Program, which provides
grants to fund "cleaner than required" engine upgrades
or retrofits that reduce PM 2.5 and other pollutants.
b) Methane: Methane (CH4) is the principal component of
natural gas and is also produced biologically under
anaerobic conditions in ruminants, landfills, and waste
handling. Atmospheric methane concentrations have been
increasing as a result of human activities related to
agriculture, fossil fuel extraction and distribution,
and waste generation and processing. Many emissions
sources of methane are unregulated (e.g. methane from
dairy production and fugitive methane emissions from
landfills and natural gas distribution) and recent
scientific reports indicate that the US Environmental
Protection Agency has underestimated methane emissions
by as much as 50%. ARB staff plans to bring to the
Board's consideration in late 2014 proposed regulations
to reduce fugitive methane emissions from storage tanks,
well stimulation, pneumatic devices, and leaking
components.
c) Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC): HFCs are synthetic gases
used in refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation
foams, solvents, aerosol products, and fire protection.
They are primarily produced for use as substitutes for
ozone-depleting substances which are currently being
globally phased out. Currently, HFCs are a small
fraction of the total climate forcing (<1%), but their
emissions are growing relatively more rapidly than those
of CO2.
ARB has implemented several measures to reduce HFC
emissions including low-global warming potential (GWP)
requirements for aerosol propellants, a deposit-return
recycling program for small cans of air conditioner
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refrigerant and a refrigerant management program.
3) Clarity on Targets . SB 1125 requires ARB to develop
targets for emissions reductions of GHG emissions and
short-lived climate pollutants. It is unclear whether the
"targets" are intended to be quantitative values or
specific actions. In either case, it is unclear whether
the bill authorizes ARB to implement measures to achieve
the 2030 targets it develops without further Legislative
direction.
In developing California's mid-term and longer term climate
policy, it is critical that California's representatives
play a key role in determining the state's path post-2020
regarding GHG emission reductions.
To address this issue, the Committee may wish to amend the
bill to clarify that ARB is required to develop
quantitative, advisory targets for GHG and short-lived
climate pollutant reductions in order to inform future
Legislative action.
4) Goals for the GHG Target . The bill currently requires
that, in developing the targets, ARB consider targets for
2030 that promote cooperation and collaboration between
states and nations, and advance the state's economic
competitiveness by minimizing leakage and stimulating
innovation. These represent important goals, but are
achievable not in the setting of the quantitative target
itself, but rather through the design of measures to reach
those targets.
For clarity, the Committee may wish to delete these
provisions, and instead require the target be based on the
best available climate science, including climate science
on short-lived climate pollutants with high global warming
potentials.
5) Open and Public Process . The bill specifies that the
targets be developed through an open and public process. An
amendment is needed to define this term as meaning one or
more public meetings noticed pursuant to the Bagley-Keene
Open Meetings Act.
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6) Support and Opposition . Supporters states that SB 1125
would lay the groundwork for reaching the state's long-term
GHG emission reduction goals by requiring ARB to develop
GHG emission and short-lived climate pollutant reduction
targets for 2030. They also note the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change's recent report that stated only
major institutional and technological change can head off
catastrophic effects of global warming. Supporters state
that SB 1125 provides businesses, investor groups, and
consumers a clearer understanding of California's energy
future to advance California's economy. In addition,
supporters state that by putting a new and much needed
priority on the reduction of short-lived climate
pollutants, Californians could see immediate health
improvements as well as cost savings.
Opponents note that, as currently drafted, SB 1125 does not
clearly state that the report is intended to inform the
Legislatures' decision on post-2020 greenhouse gas
reduction policies, rather than establishing the long-term
targets through regulatory agency action. Opponents also
state that any decisions on post-2020 climate policies are
to be made, they should be made with the aid of rigorous,
dispassionate and impartial analysis of the costs, impacts,
benefits and alternative for moving forward. They also note
that the bill does not require an analysis of the global
impact of California's program, and state that without
reciprocal action from other jurisdictions, California-only
efforts will have little impact globally. Opponents state
that they oppose SB 1125 unless the bill is amended to
address those three issues.
7) Related Legislation .
a) SB 1078 (Jackson) of 2014, requires the California
Public Utilities and California Energy Commission to set
GHG reduction targets for the electricity sector for
consideration in their long-term energy planning. SB
1078 is currently in the Senate Energy, Utilities and
Communications Committee and set for hearing on April
29th.
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b) AB 2050 (Quirk) of 2014, requires the ARB to include
a proposal for further reducing greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050, including intermediate goals. AB 2050 is
currently in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
c) SB 605 (Lara) of 2013, requires the ARB, when
updating the Scoping Plan, prioritize measures to
achieve reductions in short-lived climate pollutants
with high global warming potentials. SB 605 is currently
in the Assembly Appropriations committee.
SOURCE : Author
SUPPORT : American Lung Association
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Asthma Coalition of Los Angeles County
California Energy Efficiency Industry Council
California League of Conservation Voters
California Society for Pulmonary Rehabilitation
California Wind Energy Association
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Stockton
City of San Francisco
Clean Power Campaign
Coalition for Clean Air
Communities for a Better Environment
County of San Francisco
East Bay Municipal District
Environment California
Environmental Defense Fund
Health Care Without Harm
Healthy African American Families II
Large-Scale Solar Association
Los Angeles County Medical Association
Los Angeles Community Action Network
Moms Clean Air Force
New Vision Church of Jesus Christ
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Prevention Institute
San Francisco Asthma Task Force
San Francisco Medical Society
Sierra Club California
St. John's Well Child and Family Centers
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The Nature Conservancy
Union of Concerned Scientists
OPPOSITION : California Chamber of Commerce
California League of Food Processors
California Manufacturers and Technology
Association
Western States Petroleum Association