Last year, Governor Gavin Newsom called for all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. The rationale for the order is that transportation currently accounts for more than 50 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The goal to lower greenhouse emissions is an admirable one. California has some of the most stringent emissions policies. For example, California has its own blend of gasoline that was established to address smog issues. The gas has a lower vapor psi, which leads to less evaporative emissions occurring. With the additives needed to lower the vapor psi, California’s special blend of gasoline tends to be more expensive.
The emission policies also impact state oil production. In fact, less than five years ago, California implemented regulations that focused explicitly on potential leaks at oil and gas facilities. The regulation requires regular monitoring of methane emissions from oil and gas wells and equipment used to process and deliver oil and natural gas. In some cases, vapor collection systems are required. The goal was to reduce methane leaks in California, which is equivalent to 1.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road for a year.
The biggest problem with the regulation is that it only applies to oil and gas in California. It does not apply to the oil coming from overseas, where most of the gas in today’s California vehicles comes from. Two countries, Ecuador and Iraq account for more than 40% of California’s oil imports. The two countries also have some of the worst environmental records.
Earlier this year, an Ecuadorian court ordered the country to stop flaring at its oil fields. The courts said that the public’s health needs to be taken into consideration and the sites were not using technology to avoid contamination. The courts noted that more than 400 flares have been burning gas for decades. The flares at the oil fields burn more gas than Ecuador uses in a year. The court also noted that Ecuador’s greenhouse gas emissions would decrease by nearly 25 percent by stopping flaring.
Iraq has similar problems as it flares more than half the natural gas produced by its oil fields. According to the International Energy Agency, the amount of gas Iraq flares would be enough to power three million homes. The environmental impact of the constant burning of gas in Iraq is immense. Iraqi flaring creates nearly 10 percent of the flaring emissions of greenhouse gas worldwide while releasing as much as 30 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Unfortunately, California’s policies do not apply to imported resources. However, if California really wants to reduce greenhouse gases, the state should put the same strict regulations on its imports as it does on its homegrown industries; or find other domestic sources that meet its high standards.
