On Friday at 4:00 PM, the California Air Resources Board voted to update California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), which will take effect in 2025, increasing gas prices by 47 to 67 cents per gallon of gasoline.
During the public comment period, Republican Assemblyman Tom Lackey voiced concerns about the financial strain these standards could place on constituents, particularly those in rural and desert regions with long commutes and limited infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs). Lackey highlighted the high cost of EVs and the rugged conditions of his district, which pose additional challenges for residents considering the switch to cleaner vehicles.
“We care about the environment, and we want clean air,” Lackey stated. “But this is also about financial survival.” Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones also criticized the LCFS update as “blatant price gouging by the Newsom Administration,” pointing to California’s already high fuel prices. Jones and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher argued that CARB’s regulations could further burden residents, calling for federal intervention to limit CARB’s authority.
In contrast, State Senator Henry Stern defended the standards, saying they were critical for continued investment in low-carbon initiatives. Stern cautioned that delaying this LCFS vote could jeopardize California’s standing as a climate leader and fuel “Big Oil’s multistate propaganda campaign” that links clean air policies to rising gas prices.
The LCFS is seen as forcing Californians into EVs. NBC Sacramento (KCRA) reported, "This policy is key to the electric vehicle transition that we need," said board member Susan Shaheen. "As we move forward there is still a lot of urgency but a lot of uncertainty which is why the guard rails and monitoring is so important.”
CARB board member Hector De La Torre blamed oil companies, saying they were dishonest by blaming rising gas prices on the climate program. De La Torre told CalMatters that it was “a false narrative period” and blamed oil companies for price fluctuations.“We’re not wildly fluctuating … we project out for many years. We let them know what we’re going to do, we let them know how it’s going to play out,” said De La Torre, a former Assembly member who was appointed to the board by the state Assembly. “So let us be clear about why we have the wild fluctuations in California on gas prices. It is not us. It is not the Legislature.” However, CARB’s own internal documents have repeatedly shown that CARB expects this change to drastically increase fuel prices.