California Independent System Operators, which runs the state’s electrical grid, continued to stress this week that California is falling short of its power supply during this record breaking heatwave, thus increasing the likelihood of blackouts during peak hours.
Energy officials said Tuesday’s electrical demand topped at around 51,000 megawatts, the highest demand the state had ever seen. The excessive heat warning remains in effect until 8 PM Friday, officials said.
Just as CISO Chief Executive Officer Elliot Mainzer urged additional conservation in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom implored consumers to set thermostats at 78 degrees to avoid power disruptions and restrain from charging electric vehicles, at peak hours, which Democrats days earlier asked California residents to purchase when they banned the sale of all gas-powered cars by 2035.
Colusa County Agriculture Commissioner Anastasia Allen last week said the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved the first-in-the nation ZEV regulation.
The ZEV regulation is designed to achieve the state’s long-term emission reduction goals by requiring auto manufacturers to offer for sale the very cleanest cars available, including full battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles.
“Because the governor, per his executive order in 2020 for California to become carbon neutral, they adopted the regulation that by 2035 all vehicles sold in California will be 100 percent electric with very restrictive hybrid plugins allowed,” Allen said. “This is going to be phased in. There is more to come, and there is a lot of discussion needed. We need to make sure the power grid supports this so we are not just buying diesel generators to charge our cars because of the power overload.”
Allen said prior to the state’s ban on gas-powered vehicles, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1346 in 2021 that ordered the ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered equipment under 25 horsepower. The new law requires all lawn equipment to be zero-emission, including all small off-road engines that power generators and lawn equipment such as mowers, blowers, chainsaws, and pressure washers by 2024. Gas-powered generators must be zero-emission by 2028.
Allen said the ban on 25 hp gas motors, however, did not ban consumer use, allowing the purchaser to acquire equipment out of state. She said she doesn’t yet know if California plans to control out-of-state purchase of gas-powered cars and trucks.
“I’m not sure how this is going to work because (gas-powered) vehicles cannot be sold in California, because if you go out of state to buy a vehicle, the sales tax actually goes back to the registered address,” Allen said. “We are looking at that. We don’t know if you are going to be able to go out of state and then register (the vehicle) here.”
Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (Yuba City) issued a statement on Tuesday in response to what many called a do-or-die day for California’s power grid.
“The fear of blackouts is a direct result of a failed energy policy championed by the Democrat supermajority in Sacramento,” Gallagher said. “They have failed to invest in our grid and passed laws shifting the state’s energy dependance to wind and solar. It’s rich to watch them now scramble to keep the lights on by firing up brand-new natural gas plants and extending the life of California’s only remaining nuclear power plant, which they previously advocated for closing. This crisis was both avoidable and predictable.”
Allen said the state will have much to do for Californians to move to all electric vehicles, particularly trucks.
“There are a lot of details to work out and I’m sure our power grid managers will have something to say about it when we’ve already seen issues in areas where people are trying to follow this plan by buying (electric) semi trucks and then realize that PG&E is years out and $10 million out before they can even charge those heavy-capacity trucks. People are finding they’re having to buy giant generators to charge those vehicles.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, on Tuesday, introduced new legislation, the Revoking Engine and Vehicle (REV) Requirements Act. The bill, if passed, would repeal California’s Clean Air Act waiver and would terminate all existing waivers provided in the repealed sections.
LaMalfa, who currently represents the 1st Congressional District, said The Revoking Engine and Vehicle (REV) Requirements Act is in response to the CARB’s Aug. 24 rule to require all new cars and light trucks sold in California to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
Under the Clean Air Act, federal motor vehicle emissions standards preempt state standards, except for those in California, which under the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, qualifies for a waiver. Seventeen additional states have chosen to adopt California’s standards: New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Virginia, and New Mexico.
“California is abusing their waiver authority and its status as the largest market in the United States to force this change on all Americans,” LaMalfa said, in a news release. “We have a free market; therefore if Americans truly wanted to make the switch to electric vehicles, then they would buy them – no government interference necessary. The truth is that electric vehicles aren’t a reliable option for everyone, nor are they affordable. Just a few days after the California Air Resource Board’s mandate came out, Governor Newsom had to publicly beg electric vehicle owners not to charge their cars due to concerns of the power grid and blackouts. This winter, residents in the Sierra Nevada mountains lost power for days due to heavy snow storms; people with electric vehicles couldn’t charge them to evacuate or heat their homes. Those who want an electric vehicle and can afford it have every right to purchase one. People shouldn’t be compelled to purchase them. The bottom line is that the government has no right to mandate what kind of car you drive.” ■