California Democrats Drop Plan For 50 Percent Oil Cut

In a major setback for environmental advocates in California, Governor Jerry Brown and Senate Democrats abandoned a 50 percent cut in petroleum use by 2030 that was a centerpiece of emissions legislation, blaming an intense campaign against the mandate by the oil industry.

The measure, the latest and most ambitious part of a series of legislation and regulations by the state to significantly curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next 35 years, passed the Democratic-controlled Senate but faced almost certain defeat in the Assembly, where Democrats are also in control but tend to be more moderate and represent economically struggling parts of the state. Opponents had warned that the 50 percent mandate would result in higher fuel and electricity costs; the oil industry, in its advertisements, asserted that it could lead to fuel rationing and bans on sport utility vehicles.

Backers described those allegations as false — the bill does not mention rationing or any other specific measures — but those arguments seemed to go far in coalescing opposition to the bill. The decision on how to carry out the proposed cuts would have been left to the state’s Air Resources Board, a matter of strong concern to many lawmakers.

The petroleum cut was intended to help produce an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, using 1990 emission levels as a baseline, an ambitious program that had become a showpiece for environmentalists across the United States, and had been championed first by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and later by Brown. The action on environmental measures in California had stood in stark contrast to Washington, where skepticism about global warming is high.

This was a serious setback for environmentalists. California has long been at the forefront of this campaign, and this bill in particular had won the support of a wide variety of national Democrats, including the state’s two senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

The measure was the subject of an intense campaign directed by the Western States Petroleum Association, which labeled the bill "the California Gas Restriction Act of 2015" in television advertisements and mailings. The president of the organization, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, applauded the decision to drop this proposal and said that oil companies "remain committed to working with Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators on climate change and energy policy."

"Californians are best served by inclusive energy policy and by a legislative body that retains authority on issues so critically important to jobs, communities and our way of life," she said.

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