California may need a different path to its climate goals but will continue to work to meet them, state Air Resources Board chairwoman Liane Randolph said today.
President Donald Trump's hostility to the state's long-standing authority to drive tougher emissions standards led California regulators last month to pull proposed separate emissions requirements for vehicle fleets and locomotives.
But the state will use other means to drive down transportation emissions, including from heavy vehicles, if federal authorities do not approve more direct methods, Randolph said at the BNEF Summit in San Francisco.
"We are playing the long game," Randolph said. "We can't afford to let the political winds dictate too much of what we do to actually get those new technologies and build those new markets and get it out on the ground."
The federal Clean Air Act allows California to set its own vehicle emissions standards, so long as they are tougher than federal requirements and receive a US Environmental Protection Agency waiver. Such regulations may be adopted by other states.
California withdrew petitions for waivers for its Advanced Clean Fleets and In-Use Locomotive Standards rather than risk a denial under the new Trump administration. Advanced Clean Fleets required government fleets, drayage equipment and delivery fleets for businesses earning more than $50mn/yr in revenue to shift to zero-emissions vehicles. The locomotive regulation required rail carriers shift to lower-emission equipment and limit idling.
The state also braced for challenges to previously approved regulations, including mandates requiring auto manufacturers to steadily increase the share of zero-emissions vehicles in the new vehicles offered to buyers in the state.
California can use regional regulations through air quality districts in the state to help drive toward the same goals, Randolph said. Agreements with automakers and regulations already in place had already driven real change, she added. Revisions to the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and pending work on the state's cap-and-trade program could meanwhile deliver new incentives to support especially medium- and heavy-duty vehicle ZEV transitions, she said.
"My plea to you all is to keep playing the long game and to recognize that these investments are paying off, will pay off," Randolph said. "If we have a clear line of sight to success, we can keep that momentum going and use that momentum to support the practical regulations that can be adopted at the state level and hopefully again at the federal level."
