Partnership strongly supports A.B. 1257

Pasadena Star News

By: Cynthia Kurtz
Posted 5/01/2013

Butcher, baker, policymaker - a California legislator has a lot of jobs. Constituents pay close attention when the Legislature is spending money or debating new regulations but when the discussion is about a new policy the hearing room is often empty.   

Policy bills get a back seat because usually they don’t dramatically affect us immediately. When there are so many issues that need immediate attention, our natural instinct is to gloss over those that we think can wait. But each day the future is being formed and that is precisely why it is so important that we try and set good policy now.

 

A case in point: We all recognize that natural gas plays an important role meeting California’s energy needs, that it is a clean fuel, and that we aren’t dependent on non-friendly foreign countries to supply it.  The National Regulatory Research Institute, the research group for public service commissioners who regulate state utility services, recently issued a report saying, “As California transitions its energy infrastructure to one that is more environmentally friendly, natural gas holds promise as a fuel that can complement the state’s cap-and-trade program, energy efficient measures, and transition to renewables.”

It sounds great but California lacks a long-term strategy for maximizing the benefits of using natural gas and without a blueprint, without a policy, opportunities will be missed. 

To remedy that omission, the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership supports AB 1257, the Natural Gas Policy Act, authored by Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra. It would require the state to develop a long term strategy to maximize natural gas as an energy source. Among other uses, the Act calls for assessing strategies to use natural gas as a transportation fuel. To date the use of natural gas in Southern California is dramatically reducing harmful emissions, removing the equivalent of 525,000 gasoline powered cars off the roads.

AB 1257 requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to prepare a report identifying how to optimize the advantages of using natural gas in meeting the state’s energy needs by January 1, 2015 and then update that report every four years. 

This should help drive the development of not only natural gas but other renewable fuels as well.   According to the Center for Strategies and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan public policy research institute, natural gas “is an essential partner to the development of renewables, providing cleaner, reliable backup power when the sun is not shining or the wind dies down.”

There are long term benefits for our economy. California companies filed 41 percent of all patents for renewable-energy innovation nationwide from 2008 to 2010. Natural gas is a component of the renewable industry and a comprehensive natural gas policy can attract new business and clean-tech startups to California, injecting new life into the state’s reputation as a center for innovation.

According to the 2009 Global Insight report, the natural gas industry can become a booming sector that can bring important investment capital and major technology companies to California. Just like California’s clean tech industries attracted a record $3.5 billion in venture capital in 2011, California’s natural gas industry can also attract venture capital. And a policy that commits to a long term plan to maximize the benefits of natural gas will help attract more capital.

Let’s make sure we have the right policy, like AB 1257, in place.