Jerry Brown: “Oil lobby gutted California’s climate bill”

In California, Gov. Jerry Brown called the derailment of efforts to cut gasoline cosumption “a well-financed oil industry effort”, but Brown vowed to keep pushing on efforts to reduce the state’s petroleum usage.

From California, the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition said it was “idisappointed to see the petroleum reduction aspect of SB 350 removed,” but added that “we do not view this as a setback for the low carbon fuels industry or our policy work.”

“Governor Jerry Brown, Chair Mary Nichols and the Air Resources Board, and the California Legislature are committed to achieving deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG),” the LCFC said in a statement.

“In the transportation sector, low carbon fuels and particularly biofuels have delivered the vast majority of the over 10 million metric tons in GHG reduction that California has achieved under the Low Carbon Fuels Standard.  In the final days of the California legislative session, our Coalition continues to advocate for low carbon fuel production to receive significant funding from Cap-and-Trade funds to enable low carbon fuels to deliver even greater GHG reductions.  We hope that forward-thinking petroleum companies will recognize the policy imperative underlying SB 350 remains unchanged:  climate change is a grave global threat that requires fundamental changes to the transportation sector.  We hope that these companies will take this opportunity to resume substantial investment and participation in the low carbon fuels industry.

More on the story from Melody Gutierrez in the San Francisco Chronicle Judy Lin Associated Press Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times John Howard Capitol Weekly David Siders and Jeremy B. White in the Sacramento Bee Marisa Lagos KQED Adam Nagourney in theNew York Times