California regulators have a massive plan to get more electric cars on the road, limit emissions from trucks and replace old school buses.
The problem is they don’t have the money to pay for their $500 million scheme, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“What’s missing is the most important part of the funding plan, which is the funding,” Bill Magavern with the Coalition for Clean Air said at a recent meeting of the California Air Resources Board, or CARB.
“I think I’d be remiss if I just didn’t express how important it is that we get this funded,” echoed Sandra Berg, CARB’s vice chairwoman. “I just am thinking about Plan B. It’s so painful.”
CARB is tasked with operating the state’s cap-and-trade system and promulgate global warming regulations. CARB now has a plan to get 100,000 electric cars on the road while also pushing more regulations on heavy trucks and paying for new school buses.
But all that costs money, which CARB is sorely lacking since its cap-and-trade program is in decline. In fact, CARB’s latest cap-and-trade permit auction generated no revenues.
California has forced heavy industries, like oil refineries and factories, to buy permits every year to emit greenhouse gases, the revenues from which the state uses to fund its global warming agenda. Right now, there’s $1.4 billion in cap-and-trade revenues, but that has to be split among many other priorities.
Global warming funds are also being held up by the state legislature, according to The LA Times. Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in January his $500 million plan, but the legislature has for the second year in a row not appropriated any money towards such efforts.
“Every time we delay, it’s another vehicle we want to get off the road that we’re going to have to deal with later,” said CARB board member Alexander Sherriffs.
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