Newsom vows to fast track California’s green goals ‘in the midst of a climate emergency’
To combat climate change, California must reach 100% green electricity much faster than state officials had planned, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
“We’re in the midst of a climate emergency,” Newsom said. “We’re experiencing what so many people predicted decades ago... I’m exhausted that we have to continue to debate this issue.”
He spoke at the Oroville State Recreation Area, where smoke lingered hazy and brown in the air. Around him, fallen trees still smoldered from one of the nearly 7,700 fires that have burned through the state this year. In that area, officials have grouped several fires into the “North Complex Fire,” which destroyed the Butte County community of Berry Creek earlier this week and killed nine people. (On Friday, the death toll was revised lower by one.)
All told, nearly 3.2 million acres have burned in California this year, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
The apocalyptic conditions in California — from the fires to orange daytime skies and hazardous air — are caused by man-made climate change, Newsom said. And he argued any politician who says otherwise should be removed from power.
For his part, Newsom says California is going to be “aggressive” in meeting its carbon reduction targets ahead of schedule.
California already has an official goal signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 to phase out all fossil fuel-generated electricity by 2045. But Newsom said the fires burning across the West Coast show that benchmark, along with the state’s other climate change reduction targets, aren’t enough.
“I think 2045’s too late,” Newsom said. “We’re looking to fast track all of these efforts, across the spectrum.”
That means getting more electric cars on the road, Newsom said, and investing in green energy. He’s tasked Environmental Protection Secretary Jared Blumenfeld and Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot to assess California’s climate change strategies and “accelerate all of them — across the board.”
Even so, Newsom defended the State Water Resources Control Board’s decision to allow several gas-fired power plans to continue operating for three years beyond their scheduled close in December. Newsom called the move “necessary” as the state faces energy shortages.
Newsom has also faced criticism during his tenure as governor for allowing new oil well permits. Last year, he announced a crackdown on so-called fracking projects, which involve using high pressure water streams to extract oil or gas, and a moratorium on new oil wells that use high-pressure steam. He also promised to develop more oil and gas regulations.
Sierra Club California Director Kathryn Phillips said she was excited to hear Newsom commit to accelerating green energy policies. She hopes the fires serve as a wake-up call for Newsom, who she says hasn’t yet developed an environmental strategy to adequately fight climate change.
“On the one hand, he has said very clearly that the science shows we’ve got to get off fossil fuels,” Phillips said “On the other hand, he doesn’t seem to have a clear path or strategy for doing that.”
In response to Newsom’s climate change comments, Republican lawmakers who represent rural Northern California districts blamed Democrats for failing to clear flammable vegetation from California forests.
“The excuse of climate change cannot be used to deflect from the fundamental failure to address the fuels build-up in our forests,” Senator Jim Nielsen of Gerber and Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City wrote in a joint statement.
Newsom acknowledged Friday that the state must do more to clear vegetation and conduct prescribed burns.
In the meantime, Newsom said he hopes that exhausted firefighters will get some respite this week as the weather improves.
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Newsom vows to fast track California’s green goals ‘in the midst of a climate emergency’."