Title
Acting as the Board of Directors of the El Dorado County Air Quality Management District:
Air Quality Management District recommending the Board submit a letter signed by the Chair to the California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Finance and Air Resources Board requesting the establishment of a Rural Sustainability Fund to allocate Cap and Trade revenue generated in El Dorado County to projects in El Dorado County.
Body
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost:
There is no fiscal impact and no change to net County cost associated with this item.
Background:
On January 1, 2015, fuels such as gasoline, diesel and propane will be included in the California Cap and Trade program. Several legislators from both political parties expressed concern about the financial impacts and introduced legislation to change or delay this action. Those efforts were unsuccessful.
Independent analysis by the Legislative Analyst's Office suggests that adding fuel to the Cap and Trade program will likely result in long term gas price increases of $0.13 to $0.20 per gallon. Others have estimated higher increases. The fee will be assessed on refineries and other processors. A significant portion of this fee is likely to be passed on to consumers.
Revenue collected from the Cap and Trade fuel tax will be added to the California Greenhouse Gas Reduction fund. The 2014/2015 budget for the fund does not include fuel tax revenue. The budget includes some spending categories that could directly or indirectly benefit El Dorado County. However, the majority of the funds are earmarked in ways that will exclude El Dorado County. Fund allocations are in part determined by the use of the CalEnviroScreen tool that gives strong preference to "disadvantaged communities". None of the El Dorado County census tracts meet the disadvantaged communities criteria.
Reason for Recommendation:
Adding fuels to the Cap and Trade program will likely result in a one way tran...
Click here for full text