CA climate change bill aims to reduce greenhouse gases

Brown previously vetoed proposals that would have made flying a drone above private property for any reason a trespassing violation.

The signing took place at the Griffith Observatory, overlooking Hollywood and the Los Angeles basin. Tuesday joined dozens of state and local leaders, women and girls at the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park to sign SB 358 by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the bipartisan California Fair Pay Act. By 2030, 50 percent of the state’s electricity will be produced by renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal). They are now focusing on New Jersey, where the state Senate is slated to debate a similar bill this fall, and Massachusetts, where a legislative hearing on the issue is set for this month.

Opponents of the law, which include California’s Catholic bishops, as well as psychiatrists, bioethicists, advocates for the elderly and disabled and pro-life leaders, faulted Brown for approving a law based on his own beliefs instead of the common good of all Californians, especially those who could be coerced into ending their lives. However, benchmarks for renewable energy are constantly increasing, while smart grids and storage help even out demand and make managing transmission easier.

The requirement triggered a construction boom for solar power plants and wind farms. While the legislature’s failure to stand up to the oil industry’s fearmongering is deplorable, the administration’s commitment to achieving the Governor’s petroleum reduction goal and the strategies that are already getting us there remain firmly intact. A few projects have been criticized for their outsized impact on natural resources – i.e. plant and animal habitats.

The bad news comes next: The bill originally included a goal to reduce petroleum use by 50 percent by 2030.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. says it appreciates the flexibility the new law provides on banking of excess renewable procurement, which will provide utility customers greater opportunities to secure the best renewable energy pricing available on the market. But land use is also an important component of nature – and of climate change mitigation.

Environmentalists also expressed disappointment that the bill did not require a cut in gasoline and diesel use in the most-populous USA state.

There’s a bit of a parallel to our nation’s battle over gay marriage rights, in that people who would in no way be hurt by gay marriage or forced to have one were fighting it tooth and nail.

So far, the state hasn’t seen blackouts or other major disruptions as it has ramped up renewable energy considerably since former state Sen.

The governor, for his part, is leading the charge against anyone who denies the science of climate change. In a statement, Gov. Brown said, “I have considered the theological and religious perspectives that any deliberate shortening of one’s life is sinful”. “They are in political Pluto, and we have to bring them back to Earth, where the rest of us live”.