Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, has become a national climate leader, sparking some presidential rumors.
Newsom Raises the Climate Issue, Igniting Discussion About 2024
In anticipation of a potential 2024 presidential run, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) is establishing himself and his state as national leaders on climate problems.
Newsom intends to demonstrate how the Golden State can lead the way in addressing climate change while Washington is in a mess, even as the Biden administration is being progressively thwarted by the Supreme Court and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Climate history of Newsom: In his state budget proposal, which he released in January, he allotted $22.5 billion to fight global warming. He updated the idea in May, adding an additional $9.5 billion.
Additionally, amid a legal dispute with the Trump administration, which sought to revoke a federal waiver enabling the regulations, Newsom defended the state’s tailpipe pollution limits. In 2022, Michael Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency who had been selected by Biden, reinstated the waiver.
Although California has long been a leader in environmental concerns, Newsom now has a rare opportunity to distinguish himself at a time when Democrats are increasingly looking for alternatives to Biden.
Up until this point: According to Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, “California was a beacon of climate leadership under the previous governor Jerry Brown [D] at a time when we lacked it at the national level under the previous administration.” Mann made this statement in an email to The Hill.
The California tailpipe emissions standards are a fantastic example of how Newsom is collaborating with the administration to achieve climate action in this place. California is leading by example, and hopefully, other states will do the same.
A number of states, most recently Virginia under then-Gov. Ralph Northam, has voluntarily embraced California’s stricter pollution requirements (D).
Another prominent Democratic critic of the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, wherein the court determined that the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan was not legitimate as a means of controlling power plant emissions, is Newsom.
According to Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at Haas at the University of California, Berkeley, in an interview with The Hill, California has “historically been the one that responds most forcefully” among the states on climate concerns.
According to Borenstein, “we’re doing it again” under Newsom with local initiatives like attempting to outlaw natural gas hookups in addition to national initiatives like working to decarbonize the grid, electric vehicles, and buildings.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, Newsom has emphasized his state’s role as a defense against federal inactivity more frequently.
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