Environmental and land-use groups are urging the state Air Resources Board to bolster its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions with more aggressive measures to slow the growth in the number of miles Californians drive.
At a public meeting Thursday, the board released the draft of a strategy to cut the state's greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020.
It includes measures to reduce emissions from vehicles, including requirements that vehicles become much more fuel-efficient and oil companies reduce the carbon content of the fuels they sell.
But the proposals to reduce driving are relatively modest.
Californians drive about 830 million miles each day, a figure projected to grow to roughly 1 billion by 2020. The board's proposal would reduce that to roughly 985 million miles daily, according to Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition.
Earlier studies had contemplated that new policies could cut the 2020 figure by an additional 50 million miles daily. Several regional bodies, including the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, have projected that deeper cuts are possible through changes in land-use planning.
"Regions want that number to be higher," Cohen told the board Thursday. "We need ARB's help in getting some enabling regulations."
The ARB has considered several ways to reduce driving:
• "Pay-as-you-drive" insurance, which ties premiums directly to miles traveled.
• Congestion pricing, which charges a fee for vehicles driving crowded routes at peak times.
• Fees on housing developments located far from job and retail centers, which could be used to fund incentives for infill development.
Several board members voiced support for stronger action to trim driving, and it's possible the plan will be amended. The agency must adopt a final version of the plan by the end of the year.
Call The Bee's Jim Downing, (916) 321-1065.
