Newsom takes another swing at Big Oil

Jun 06, 2024

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at an event.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom used a press call on zero-emission vehicle sales to bash oil companies. | Jeff Chiu/AP

KEEP ON TRUCKING: California’s plan to phase out fossil fuel trucks, buses and vans is ahead of schedule, and Gov. Gavin Newsom seized the opportunity to jab at one of his favorite opponents: Big Oil.

Newsom made a surprise appearance today on a press call with state regulators to announce that zero-emission vehicles accounted for 16 percent of medium- and heavy-duty sales last year, well beyond the state’s 6 percent mandate for this year.

The governor — who wasn’t originally listed as a speaker on the briefing — opened by touting California’s “historic status as a leader in the low carbon, green growth space.”

He saved his most fiery rhetoric, however, for those who are challenging California’s clean air regulations in federal courts. The opposition from groups like the Western States Trucking Association and 17 Republican attorneys general he argued, is creating uncertainty in the market that could hinder mainstream adoption of the clean technology.

“The barriers are aided and abetted by the incumbency-protection racket,” Newsom said, claiming that oil company lobbyists are behind the opposition to the clean transportation transition.

California has stepped up its efforts to insulate state regulations from federal threats in recent years, reaching agreements with car and truck manufacturers to hit zero-emissions sales goals, even if a hostile federal government tries to invalidate them.

Former President Donald Trump did just that in 2019 when his EPA blocked California’s waiver to set car emission standards. State leaders acknowledge they’re strategizing on how to Trump-proof regulations and build national support ahead of him possibly winning another term.

“I want to thank the leadership of those states for recognizing their responsibility to shape the future,” Newsom said today, pointing to the 10 states that have adopted California’s truck rules. “For not ceding our future to big oil and oil interests.”

Joe Rajkovacz, director of governmental affairs for the Western States Trucking Association, said in a statement that oil companies aren’t financially supporting the organization in any of its three lawsuits. He argued that heavy-duty electric and hydrogen fueling infrastructure is still in its infancy, and that the spike in sales is dominated by medium-duty vehicles like delivery trucks, a fact acknowledged on the press briefing by Steven Cliff, executive director of the California Air Resources Board.

“It’d be nice if politicians engaged in less hyperbole and actually engaged the majority of trucking — small business — to see what they really need to make a transition workable,” Rajkovacz said. “That has not happened, nor with regulators who are doing the bidding of those same politicians.”

IT’S THURSDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to anieves@politico.com.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

ANOTHER TWIST: A judge today dismissed three of the most serious state counts against the man convicted of assaulting former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband by bludgeoning him in the head with a hammer, agreeing with the defense that David DePape had already been convicted on similar charges in federal court and could not be tried for the same crimes twice.

Judge Harry Dorfman granted a motion from attorneys representing DePape, dismissing counts of attempted murder, assault of an elder and assault with a deadly weapon.

DePape was convicted last fall in federal court of assaulting Paul Pelosi and attempting to kidnap the then-speaker and has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. DePape has said he broke into the Pelosis’ home in late 2022 as part of a plot to force the speaker, under the threat of violence, to admit Democrats’ so-called lies about Trump.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has pursued a host of additional state charges, noting the severity of his crime. Her office, which is appealing Dorfman’s ruling, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

DePape’s state trial is expected to resume in a week. He still faces five additional state counts: threatening a family member of a public official, false imprisonment, burglary, witness interference and aggravated kidnapping. — Dustin Gardiner

ON THE BEATS

Students walk past Sather Gate on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, Calif.

A state court rejected an argument from Berkeley neighborhood groups that noise should be considered pollution. | Ben Margot/AP

ALL THE NOISE, NOISE, NOISE, NOISE: A new state law took the steam out of a novel argument from a group of neighbors trying to block a housing development by UC Berkeley’s campus: that noisy student parties count as pollution under environmental law.

The California Supreme Court today cited the 2023 law from Bay Area Democrat Buffy Wicks — which explicitly prevents courts from considering human noise in such disputes — as it reversed an appellate court ruling and rejected opponents’ claims.

The ruling deals a fatal blow to the argument that residents’ noise could be considered pollution, which had already been used in at least one other legal fight in Los Angeles.

UC Berkeley is now gearing up to resume construction of its project at People’s Park, spokesperson Dan Mogulof said. — Blake Jones

SUBSTITUTE TEACHER: Five University of California campus extension units misled students about third-party involvement in some online programs, a state audit report released today found.

At least seven programs that use outside firms to provide online graduate and continuing education instruction didn’t clearly identify non-UC instructors, the report found, and four programs failed to disclose third-party involvement. More than half of students surveyed by the auditor didn’t know they were being taught by a non-UC instructor.

In a May letter to the auditor, UC President Michael V. Drake said the university “is taking these findings seriously” and plans to implement report recommendations, which include beefed up transparency and oversight of third-party online education programs. — Tyler Katzenberger

WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY

— Invasive species are damaging the state's waterways, according to a new warning from the state’s Department of Water Resources. (Newsweek)

— The number of gun violence restraining orders to limit firearm access for people deemed dangerous increased by 20 percent between 2020 and 2023 in California, a new report showed. (KQED)

— Virgin Galactic will dismiss a California lawsuit accusing Boeing of breaking a contract to develop its space-tourism “mothership” and unlawfully claiming rights to trade secrets. (Reuters)

AROUND THE STATE

— In Santa Clara County, “backyard homes” are about to get easier and faster to build. (San Jose Spotlight)

— Modesto City Schools got a new eighth-grade sex education curriculum after Attorney General Rob Bonta alleged the old material was inaccurate and biased. (Modesto Bee)

— Disability advocates are asking a federal judge to compel Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office to allow voters who have difficulty using printed materials to return their ballots via fax in the November election. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

— compiled by Ariel Gans

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