Measures tackling offshore wind, building decarbonization and other energy-related topics landed on the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom this week after lawmakers completed their 2021 session and Newsom survived a recall effort.
One measure, Assembly Bill 525, by Assemblymember David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat, would instruct the California Energy Commission to develop planning goals for offshore wind generation for 2030 and 2045 and to coordinate with state agencies to develop a strategic plan for OSW development, to be submitted to the legislature by June 2023.
Chiu’s bill passed the state Senate on Thursday, 38-0, followed Friday by an Assembly vote, 74-1, concurring in the Senate’s amendments.
“The signs of the climate crisis are all around us,” Chiu said earlier this year when the measure passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. “With offshore wind, we have an opportunity to counter the threat of climate change, meet our clean energy goals, and create thousands of new good-paying jobs in the process.”
The Biden administration announced in May it plans to offer leases for the state’s first offshore wind areas — a 399-square-mile block off Morro Bay in Central California that could support 3 GW of wind generation and the Humboldt Call Area off Northern California, large enough for an additional 1.6 GW. (See BOEM to Offer Leases for Calif. Offshore Wind.)
Another bill that reached the governor deals with greenhouse gas emissions from the production of cement, a key ingredient in making concrete, the world’s most common building material. California no longer has coal-burning power plants, but eight cement kilns continue to burn coal, releasing carbon dioxide.
Senate Bill 596, by Sen. Josh Becker (D) of San Mateo, would order the California Air Resources Board to develop a strategy for decarbonizing by July 2023 and set a goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than December 31, 2045. It cleared the Assembly on Thursday, 74-2, and the Senate on Friday, 29-9.
“This bill positions California to develop a model strategy to shrink cement’s huge carbon footprint, while continuing to grow our economy and protect public health. Governor Newsom should quickly sign it into law,” Alex Jackson, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement after the bill’s passage.
The California Energy Commission recently began looking more seriously at decarbonizing building materials as part of the state’s GHG reduction strategy. Cement production accounted for 1.8% of GHG emissions in 2017, according to the California Air Resources Board. (See CEC Targets ‘Embodied Carbon’ in Buildings.)
Newsom has until Oct. 10 to sign or veto the measures.
