California takes lead on the environment amid Trump rollbacks
Matt Simons
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — While the federal government is rolling back dozens of environmental protections on a national scale, California is taking the fight against climate change into its own hands.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he is joining America Is All In, a bipartisan coalition of state leaders committed to reducing carbon emissions, as the organization’s newest co-chair. In his announcement, the governor criticized the federal government’s “all-out assault” on low-carbon and green energy initiatives and said state and city leaders must “step up.”
“In California, we’re not slowing down our work to slash pollution and dominate clean industries of the future. In fact, we’re ramping up because it will take all of us to meet this moment,” Newsom said in a statement.
The coalition was founded in 2017 after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accords despite pleas from scores of world leaders and CEOs of U.S. corporations.
Afterward, 227 cities and counties, nine states and about 1,650 businesses and investors pledged to uphold U.S. commitments under the Paris deal anyway as part of a nationwide, collaborative effort.
The coalition’s stated goal is to make sure the U.S. meets the obligations of the Paris Agreement by cutting national emissions in half by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Newsom’s addition to the board makes him the biggest name in the coalition’s roster of leaders, which includes Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Gina McCarthy, a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
McCarthy said she was “thrilled” to have Newsom on board.
“Together, we will pick up the baton and represent the U.S. on the international stage, so that our friends and allies around the world know that at the subnational level, the U.S. is fully committed to putting in place policies, practices, and technologies that cut fossil fuels to protect our health, our safety, and our economy,” McCarthy said.
The same morning, the California Air Resources Board announced plans for a network of methane-detecting satellites that will allow the state to better trace pollution sources, building off a 2018 promise by then-governor Jerry Brown that the state would launch its “own damn satellite” to detect pollution.
The first of the planned eight-satellite network launched in 2024 from the Vanderberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara, California. The satellite's launch, facilitated by SpaceX and Planet Labs, was funded by a public-private partnership backed by philanthropy.
Although California will not own these satellites, the state will maintain a database and web portal to coordinate pollution-reduction actions and state agencies will be able to select specific regions for observation.
Methane is a clear, odorless gas produced by natural sources like wetlands as well as man-made landfills, oil and gas activities and cattle ranching. Because methane is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and makes up about 25% of global heating, state authorities have singled it out as a major pollutant.
The governor said the new satellite data will enable state and local agencies to work together with industry players to protect the state's clean air and promote public health.
As part of the satellite announcement, Newsom again took a swipe at Trump.
“Decades of progress to protect public health is on the line as the Trump Administration works to roll back critical environmental protections,” the governor said. "California isn’t having it."
The state has not announced a timeline to launch the remaining seven satellites.
The satellite project is funded by a $100 million investment from California's Cap-and-Trade program.