Tulare County Farm Bureau represents approximately
1100 farms and ranches, and member families in Tulare County.
We are very concerned about the CARB's proposal to advance
electrification of all vehicles in the coming years, we believe it
will come at great expense to the rural communities and farm
economy of California and hinder the safe distribution of food and
farm products across the nation and globe. These rules deepen
inequality, particularly in rural and farm regions of California
where electric infrastructure is already substandard, and grid
capacity is not set up to support every farm, ranch, home, and
business utilizing electric vehicles.
As California tries to recover from the impacts of
COVID-19, we are now met with another challenge –
unprecedented energy costs. Californians are paying for all forms
of energy because of the climate design of our state. It is no
doubt that climate change needs to be addressed, but the Advanced
Clean Cars II (ACC II) rulemaking will only make our energy
problems worse. Families and businesses are affected by inflation,
and ACC II will increase rising costs for necessities that produce
and ship our food.
We all want
to do our part to lower emissions, but this is the wrong way to go
about it. Bans and mandates aren’t feasible for most of
California, especially farmers who will have to make a drastic
shift in all their equipment needed to grow and transport food
safely and in a timely manner.
Farmers have
already made their pledge to address the climate crisis by
adjusting such as growing more with less water and reducing
greenhouse gases. They’ve also made changes to using better
soil that increases carbon capture, thus reducing emissions. ACC II
will make the agriculture community collateral damage instead of
joining forces.
Rural towns
do not have the infrastructure to support drastic electrical
changes, and in the end the small farms will eventually be cut out.
The state wants to reduce “vehicle miles travelled” by
22% by 2045 and would hit people living and working in rural areas
harder – especially agricultural workers, who would need to
some place to charge EVs.
Californians
are already feeling the burden of inflation with higher grocery
bills. Not only will this mandate raise inflation, but it could add
to food insecurity all over the state. The California grid can
barely support our current energy usage. Forcing farmers to rely on
that grid for transportation will increase energy usage and power
outages. Power outages would mean transportation will be
interrupted, and most food is perishable. These factors ultimately
raise the cost of food to pay for higher energy consumption and
food scarcity.
Public Safety
Power shutoffs during times of emergencies, forest fires, and other
catastrophic disasters could mean that Californians would not have
access to charge their electric vehicles to escape and evacuate
from areas of disaster. Low income communities, many situated here
in the San Joaquin Valley could be impacted disproportionately by
these changes.
Commerce
between states, and trucks taking California ag (perishable)
commodities to out of state distribution centers would be adversely
impacted by the lack of charging stations across other states, the
onerous rules governing Electronic Driver Logs, and hours drivers
can log each day, and could make perishable shipments face
countless delays that could cause crops to be damaged or harmed in
shipment.
We urge you to
consider whether: consumers will be able to buy the cars they need,
and can afford, on the schedule outlined to get to where they need
to go; whether car manufacturers can build the cars and offer them
for an affordable price given supply chain constraints; how
increasing utility rates across the state (and at different) rates
will affect affordability; how the build-out of EV charging will be
done equitably, especially in rural areas; and how
California’s electric grid can reliably meet the energy
demands expected.
Climate
polices need to be technology neutral and cost-effective for
everyone to be able to participate in the fight against climate
change. The protection of California’s agriculture community
is a necessity, as they are a key element for the wellbeing and
survival of Californians.
A coalition of groups & individuals known as Energy IDEAS
states: the regulation could potentially reduce personal income by
$15 billion dollars, car ownership would increase by $6,000 per
car, economic output could be reduced by as much as $22.7 billion,
and low income communities will carry a disproportionate burden of
these costs. Food security and affordability will be
negatively impacted, and small businesses will pay a huge price
along with 85,000 jobs that could be impacted or eliminated by a
shift to electrification of all motor vehicles.
We urge you to think about the impact to farms in California,
rural Californians, low income and elderly who cannot and will not
be able to afford electric cars in the next two decades.
This is not a workable solution for many reasons outlined
above.
Thank you,
Tricia Stever Blattler
Executive Director
Tulare County Farm Bureau