In a joint oversight hearing on Feb. 22, the Assembly Transportation Committee and Senate Transportation and Housing Committee asked CARB to develop metrics for each of its 50 transportation-related regulatory and incentive programs. Committee members want metrics for each program’s objectives, progress made toward them, costs, and program effectiveness. CARB has those metrics for a few programs and committed to sharing more data with the committee moving forward.
Assembly Transportation Committee chair Jim Frazier (D-Oakley) said he wants to see the metrics before voting on CARB’s budget this year.
Clean fuels supporters will need to defend California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard against attacks from the oil industry this year, industry leaders warned at the fourth annual Clean, Low Carbon Fuels Summit, held on Feb. 23. Speakers also called on the state Legislature to take stronger actions in support of renewable fuels.
Gov. Jerry Brown is one of 17 Democratic and Republican governors who on Feb. 16 signed the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future, a commitment to promote clean transportation solutions, cleaner energy, and modern electrical grids.
The 17 states will work together to diversify energy generation, expand clean energy sources, modernize energy infrastructure, and encourage clean transportation options. The Accord is intended to enable the governors to collaborate on policy making, planning, and best practices.
In its fiscal year 2017 budget proposal, the U.S. Department of Energy cuts spending for the Clean Cities program by more than 30 percent and for the vehicle technologies deployment fund by one-third. The cutback reduces funding for outreach, deployment, and analysis, and eliminates funding for the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Partner Program, which has provided money for fleet purchases and conversions of alternative fuel vehicles. Instead, the budget proposes funds for a new SuperTruck II initiative to improve the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks by 2020. Read the DOE’s budget.