latimes--2020-09-23--Here is Newsom's plan to allow only zero-emissions car sales in California by 2035

Gov .
Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order to restrict new car sales in the state to only zero-emission vehicles by 2035 .
Here are key points from Times reporting : There has been talk of completely phasing out gasoline-powered cars in California for several years — but nothing concrete until now .
In his order , Newsom laid out his ambition : “ It shall be a goal of the State that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035 .
It shall be a further goal of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heavy-duty vehicles in the State be zero-emission by 2045 for all operations where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks .
It shall be further a goal of the State to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible.
” The governor ’ s order directs the state Air Resources Board to develop and propose regulations requiring “ increasing volumes of new zero-emission vehicles sold in the State towards the target of 100 percent of in-state sales by 2035.
” Cars , trucks and other vehicles are the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , accounting for about 40 % of the statewide total , and their emissions have been stubbornly creeping upward in recent years .
Driving down transportation pollution remains the state ’ s biggest challenge in achieving its goal of slashing planet-warming emissions to 40 % below 1990 levels by 2030 .
Under current regulations , the Air Resources Board requires automakers to sell electric , fuel cell and other zero-emission vehicles in increasing percentages through 2025 .
Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 7.6 % of new car registrations California in 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jerry Brown , the state set a goal to put 5 million zero-emission cars on the road by 2025 .
There were 670,000 zero-emission vehicles sold in California through the end of 2019 , according to auto industry sales data .
WHEREAS the climate change crisis is happening now , impacting California in unprecedented ways , and affecting the health and safety of too many Californians ; and WHEREAS we must accelerate our actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change , and more quickly move toward our low-carbon , sustainable and resilient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has disrupted the entire transportation sector , bringing a sharp decline in demand for fuels and adversely impacting public transportation ; and WHEREAS as our economy recovers , we must accelerate the transition to a carbon neutral future that supports the retention and creation of high-road , high-quality jobs ; and WHEREAS California ’ s long-term economic resilience requires bold action to eliminate emissions from transportation , which is the largest source of emissions in the State ; and WHEREAS the State must prioritize clean transportation solutions that are accessible to all Californians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experience a disproportionate share of pollution ; and WHEREAS zero emissions technologies , especially trucks and equipment , reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and toxic air pollutants that disproportionately burden our disadvantaged communities of color ; and WHEREAS California is a world leader in manufacturing and deploying zero-emission vehicles and chargers and fueling stations for cars , trucks , buses and freight-related equipment ; and WHEREAS passenger rail , transit , bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure , and micro-mobility options are critical components to the State achieving carbon neutrality and connecting communities , requiring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ levels of governments including rail and transit agencies to support these mobility options ; and WHEREAS California ’ s policies have contributed to an on-going reduction in in-state oil extraction , which has declined by over 60 percent since 1985 , but demand for oil has not correspondingly declined over the same period of time ; and WHEREAS California is already working to decarbonize the transportation fuel sector through the Low Carbon Fuel Standard , which recognizes the full life cycle of carbon in transportation emissions including transport into the State ; and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as California transitions to a decarbonized transportation sector ; and WHEREAS to protect the health and safety of our communities and workers the State must focus on the impacts of oil extraction as it transitions away from fossil fuel , by working to end the issuance of new hydraulic fracturing permits by 2024 ; and WHEREAS a sustainable and inclusive economic future for California will require retaining and creating high-road , high-quality jobs through sustained engagement with communities , workers and industries in changing and growing industries .
NOW THEREFORE , I , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of California by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the State of California , do hereby issue the following Order to pursue actions necessary to combat the climate crisis .
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT : • It shall be a goal of the State that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035 .
It shall be a further goal of the State that 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks .
It shall be further a goal of the State to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible .
• None The State Air Resources Board , to the extent consistent with State and federal law , shall develop and propose : a ) Passenger vehicle and truck regulations requiring increasing volumes of new zero-emission vehicles sold in the State towards the target of 100 percent of in-state sales by 2035. b ) Medium- and heavy-duty vehicle regulations requiring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buses sold and operated in the State towards the target of 100 percent of the fleet transitioning to zero-emission vehicles by 2045 everywhere feasible and for all drayage trucks to be zero- emission by 2035. c ) Strategies , in coordination with other State agencies , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and local air districts , to achieve 100 percent zero-emission from off-road vehicles and equipment operations in the State by 2035 .
In implementing this Paragraph , the State Air Resources Board shall act consistently with technological feasibility and cost-effectiveness .
• The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Economic Development , in consultation with the State Air Resources Board , Energy Commission , Public Utilities Commission , State Transportation Agency , the Department of Finance and other State agencies , local agencies and the private sector , shall develop a Zero-Emissions Vehicle Market Development Strategy by January 31 , 2021 , and update every three years thereafter , that : a ) Ensures coordinated and expeditious implementation of the system of policies , programs and regulations necessary to achieve the goals and orders established by this Order .
b ) Outlines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and used zero- emission vehicle markets for broad accessibility for all Californians .
• The State Air Resources Board , the Energy Commission , Public Utilities Commission and other relevant State agencies , shall use existing authorities to accelerate deployment of affordable fueling and charging options for zero-emission vehicles , in ways that serve all communities and in particular low-income and disadvantaged communities , consistent with State and federal law .
• The Energy Commission , in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the Public Utilities Commission , shall update the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ required by Assembly Bill 2127 ( Chapter 365 , Statues of 2018 ) to support the levels of electric vehicle adoption required by this Order .
• The State Transportation Agency , the Department of Transportation and the California Transportation Commission , in consultation with the Department of Finance and other State agencies , shall by July 15 , 2021 identify near term actions , and investment strategies , to improve clean transportation , sustainable freight and transit options , while continuing a “ fix-it-first ” approach to our transportation system , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an integrated , statewide rail and transit network , consistent with the California State Rail Plan , to provide seamless , affordable multimodal travel options for all .
b ) Supporting bicycle , pedestrian , and micro-mobility options , particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities in the State , by incorporating safe and accessible infrastructure into projects where appropriate .
c ) Supporting light , medium , and heavy duty zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure as part of larger transportation projects , where appropriate .
• The Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consultation with the Department of Finance and other State agencies , shall develop by July 15 , 2021 and expeditiously implement a Just Transition Roadmap , consistent with the recommendations in the “ Putting California on the High Road : A Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030 ” report pursuant to Assembly Bill 398 ( Chapter 135 , Statutes of 2017 ) .
• To support the transition away from fossil fuels consistent with the goals established in this Order and California ’ s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by no later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency , in consultation with other State , local and federal agencies , shall expedite regulatory processes to repurpose and transition upstream and downstream oil production facilities , while supporting community participation , labor standards , and protection of public health , safety and the environment .
The agencies shall report on progress and provide an action plan , including necessary changes in regulations , laws or resources , by July 15 , 2021 • The State Air Resources Board , in consultation with other State agencies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue the State ’ s current efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels beyond 2030 with consideration of the full life cycle of carbon .
• The California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency , in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research , the Department of Finance , the Governor ’ s Office of Business and Economic Development and other local and federal agencies , shall develop strategies , recommendations and actions by July 15 , 2021 to manage and expedite the responsible closure and remediation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transitions to a carbon-neutral economy .
• The Department of Conservation ’ s Geologic Energy Management Division and other relevant State agencies shall strictly enforce bonding requirements and other regulations to ensure oil extraction operators are responsible for the proper closure and remediation of their sites .
• The Department of Conservation ’ s Geologic Energy Management Division shall : a ) Propose a significantly strengthened , stringent , science-based health and safety draft rule that protects communities and workers from the impacts of oil extraction activities by December 31 , 2020. b @ @ @ @ @ @ @ review and consultation a draft rule at least 60 days before submitting to the Office of Administrative Law .

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order to restrict new car sales in the state to only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
Here are key points from Times reporting:
The change
There has been talk of completely phasing out gasoline-powered cars in California for several years — but nothing concrete until now.
In his order, Newsom laid out his ambition: “It shall be a goal of the State that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035. It shall be a further goal of the State that 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the State be zero-emission by 2045 for all operations where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks. It shall be further a goal of the State to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible.”
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The governor’s order directs the state Air Resources Board to develop and propose regulations requiring “increasing volumes of new zero-emission vehicles sold in the State towards the target of 100 percent of in-state sales by 2035.”
Background
Cars, trucks and other vehicles are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in California, accounting for about 40% of the statewide total, and their emissions have been stubbornly creeping upward in recent years. Driving down transportation pollution remains the state’s biggest challenge in achieving its goal of slashing planet-warming emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
Under current regulations, the Air Resources Board requires automakers to sell electric, fuel cell and other zero-emission vehicles in increasing percentages through 2025. Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 7.6% of new car registrations California in 2019. In 2018, under then-Gov. Jerry Brown, the state set a goal to put 5 million zero-emission cars on the road by 2025. There were 670,000 zero-emission vehicles sold in California through the end of 2019, according to auto industry sales data.
The order
EXECUTIVE ORDER N-79-20
WHEREAS the climate change crisis is happening now, impacting California in unprecedented ways, and affecting the health and safety of too many Californians; and
WHEREAS we must accelerate our actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and more quickly move toward our low-carbon, sustainable and resilient future; and
WHEREAS the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the entire transportation sector, bringing a sharp decline in demand for fuels and adversely impacting public transportation; and
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WHEREAS as our economy recovers, we must accelerate the transition to a carbon neutral future that supports the retention and creation of high-road, high-quality jobs; and
WHEREAS California’s long-term economic resilience requires bold action to eliminate emissions from transportation, which is the largest source of emissions in the State; and
WHEREAS the State must prioritize clean transportation solutions that are accessible to all Californians, particularly those who are low-income or experience a disproportionate share of pollution; and
WHEREAS zero emissions technologies, especially trucks and equipment, reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and toxic air pollutants that disproportionately burden our disadvantaged communities of color; and
WHEREAS California is a world leader in manufacturing and deploying zero-emission vehicles and chargers and fueling stations for cars, trucks, buses and freight-related equipment; and
WHEREAS passenger rail, transit, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and micro-mobility options are critical components to the State achieving carbon neutrality and connecting communities, requiring coordination of investments and work with all levels of governments including rail and transit agencies to support these mobility options; and
WHEREAS California’s policies have contributed to an on-going reduction in in-state oil extraction, which has declined by over 60 percent since 1985, but demand for oil has not correspondingly declined over the same period of time; and
WHEREAS California is already working to decarbonize the transportation fuel sector through the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which recognizes the full life cycle of carbon in transportation emissions including transport into the State; and
WHEREAS clean renewable fuels play a role as California transitions to a decarbonized transportation sector; and
WHEREAS to protect the health and safety of our communities and workers the State must focus on the impacts of oil extraction as it transitions away from fossil fuel, by working to end the issuance of new hydraulic fracturing permits by 2024; and
WHEREAS a sustainable and inclusive economic future for California will require retaining and creating high-road, high-quality jobs through sustained engagement with communities, workers and industries in changing and growing industries.
NOW THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the State of California, do hereby issue the following Order to pursue actions necessary to combat the climate crisis.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:


latimes--2020-09-23--Think this fire season is bad? 'This isn't the worst of it,' retired U.S. Forest Service chief says

Bad news , Californians , but 2020 ’ s fire season may not be an aberration .
In fact , we ’ re probably facing years of increasing fire , smoke , death and destruction both in rural towns and suburban foothills unless we and the rest of the country get on the same page on how to deal with this threat .
At least that ’ s how Tom Harbour , retired fire chief of the U.S. Forest Service , sees it .
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times , Harbour , who led the agency ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spent 46 years in firefighting , gave his thoughts on how California and the West have arrived on this fire-filled path and the difficult choices that would have to be made to leave it .
“ The broad confluence of factors that you got there in California — the Meditteranean climate , the [ dead trees ] in the Sierra and then over 2 million properties at risk — shouldn ’ t be a surprise , ” Harbour said .
“ It ’ s trite to say ... this isn ’ t the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gavin Newsom said recently , and experts have been warning for years , California ’ s annual cycle of natural disasters is a harbinger of life in the United States , with increasingly frequent extreme weather events , Harbour said .
“ It ’ s a terrible situation , and I hope this allows us people to really step back and start thinking about solutions , ” Harbour said .
“ We need to carefully consider individually , county by county , as a state , as a society , whether or not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be happening with increased frequency , is acceptable .
I don ’ t believe it is.
” For starters , the government can manage its forests better through more prescribed fires and commercial timber harvesting , Harbour said .
When we don ’ t pay the costs to manage wild land up front , residents , businesses and governments end up paying billions on the back end through lost income , insurance claims and recovery funds when monster fires pass through .
“ What kind of fire do you want ?
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t exclude fire in these ecosytems , and you can ’ t ‘ one more firefighter ’ your way out of these.
” The last few years of extreme fire underscore the need for a new approach , Harbour said .
About 19 million of California ’ s 33 million acres of forest , or 57 % , is federal .
Less than 1 million acres , or 3 % , is owned by the state .
The rest is a mix of private and local government land owners .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place now ... where you got to remove some of the fuel , but as soon as you start talking about removing fuel , there ’ s a lot of distrust about how you do that , ” Harbour said .
“ But if you think that stasis is an option , Mother Nature is smiling right now .
Stasis is not an option .
She ’ s not going to allow it .
And so here we are.
” We have to consider not only how to manage forests , Harbour said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rural mountain and suburban foothill towns and how to design homes that can survive there .
In the last three years , residents and visitors in the those areas have had to find safety with firefighters and sheriff ’ s deputies in parking lots and at the edge of reservoirs after evacuation routes were cut off by flames and their homes burned down in a shower of embers .
“ In many places in the West , we got one way in and one way out , and when you get a fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s bad , ” Harbour said .
“ They must pay attention because when they do not , they put themselves in even more peril and they put first-responders in horrible situations.
” What would undergird all of this , Harbour says , is an essential level of sturdiness and self-reliance among individuals and community-banding when a wildfire looms , similar to the dramatic firefight that took place in the Santa Cruz mountains in August .
“ It ’ s going to be both horizontal in the community among homeowners and private landowners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be vertical , from private landowner , the local community , the county , to the state and the feds , ” Harbour said .
Harbour said he hopes it won ’ t require another paradigm-shifting disaster , like the 1871 Peshtigo fire that killed at least 1,200 people , or the 1910 “ Big Burn ” that scorched 3 million acres , to spark the necessary culture shift .
“ But it looms large in the minds of those that work in the wild land fire field , and it is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to solve this problem , ” Harbour said .
“ Because it ’ s going to take years to stabilize the problem .
It ’ s not going to take only a behavior change ... it ’ s going to take changes in policy .
”

The Bobcat fire has burned through the Angeles National Forest and destroyed this home in Juniper Hills.
Bad news, Californians, but 2020’s fire season may not be an aberration.
In fact, we’re probably facing years of increasing fire, smoke, death and destruction both in rural towns and suburban foothills unless we and the rest of the country get on the same page on how to deal with this threat.
At least that’s how Tom Harbour, retired fire chief of the U.S. Forest Service, sees it.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Harbour, who led the agency’s fire response for 11 years and spent 46 years in firefighting, gave his thoughts on how California and the West have arrived on this fire-filled path and the difficult choices that would have to be made to leave it.
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“The broad confluence of factors that you got there in California — the Meditteranean climate, the [dead trees] in the Sierra and then over 2 million properties at risk — shouldn’t be a surprise,” Harbour said. “It’s trite to say ... this isn’t the worst of it.”
As Gov. Gavin Newsom said recently, and experts have been warning for years, California’s annual cycle of natural disasters is a harbinger of life in the United States, with increasingly frequent extreme weather events, Harbour said.
Retired U.S. Forest Service fire chief Tom Harbour (Courtesy of Cornea)
“It’s a terrible situation, and I hope this allows us people to really step back and start thinking about solutions,” Harbour said. “We need to carefully consider individually, county by county, as a state, as a society, whether or not this kind of situation ... which seems to be happening with increased frequency, is acceptable. I don’t believe it is.”
For starters, the government can manage its forests better through more prescribed fires and commercial timber harvesting, Harbour said. When we don’t pay the costs to manage wild land up front, residents, businesses and governments end up paying billions on the back end through lost income, insurance claims and recovery funds when monster fires pass through.
Advertisement
“What kind of fire do you want?” Harbour asked rhetorically. “Because you can’t exclude fire in these ecosytems, and you can’t ‘one more firefighter’ your way out of these.”
The last few years of extreme fire underscore the need for a new approach, Harbour said. About 19 million of California’s 33 million acres of forest, or 57%, is federal. Less than 1 million acres, or 3%, is owned by the state. The rest is a mix of private and local government land owners.
“We’ve worked ourselves into a place now ... where you got to remove some of the fuel, but as soon as you start talking about removing fuel, there’s a lot of distrust about how you do that,” Harbour said. “But if you think that stasis is an option, Mother Nature is smiling right now. Stasis is not an option. She’s not going to allow it. And so here we are.”
We have to consider not only how to manage forests, Harbour said, but also how to set up rural mountain and suburban foothill towns and how to design homes that can survive there. In the last three years, residents and visitors in the those areas have had to find safety with firefighters and sheriff’s deputies in parking lots and at the edge of reservoirs after evacuation routes were cut off by flames and their homes burned down in a shower of embers.
“In many places in the West, we got one way in and one way out, and when you get a fire blocking that cherry stem, it’s bad,” Harbour said. “They must pay attention because when they do not, they put themselves in even more peril and they put first-responders in horrible situations.”
What would undergird all of this, Harbour says, is an essential level of sturdiness and self-reliance among individuals and community-banding when a wildfire looms, similar to the dramatic firefight that took place in the Santa Cruz mountains in August.
“It’s going to be both horizontal in the community among homeowners and private landowners, and it’s got to be vertical, from private landowner, the local community, the county, to the state and the feds,” Harbour said.
Harbour said he hopes it won’t require another paradigm-shifting disaster, like the 1871 Peshtigo fire that killed at least 1,200 people, or the 1910 “Big Burn” that scorched 3 million acres, to spark the necessary culture shift.
“But it looms large in the minds of those that work in the wild land fire field, and it is not the kind of motivator that we want to solve this problem,” Harbour said. “Because it’s going to take years to stabilize the problem. It’s not going to take only a behavior change ... it’s going to take changes in policy.”


latimes--2020-09-23--Yosemite to reopen Friday with more campsites open

Yosemite National Park will reopen Friday , with scores of campsites available that have been closed all summer .
The move , announced Wednesday , follows a Sept. 17 closure because of unhealthy air quality .
The park reopens at 9 a.m. Friday .
Park spokesman Scott Gediman said campsites in Yosemite Valley ’ s Upper Pines , North Pinse and Lower Pines campgrounds will be available for campers beginning Friday night .
The campgrounds can be booked at recreation.gov .
Through the summer , Yosemite has tried to reduce COVID-19 risks by making available only about half of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Upper Pines area , about 120 spots .
Virtually all of the park ’ s other campsites have been closed for months , and longstanding reservations were cancelled as a result .
Beginning Friday , most of of the 90 campsites in North Pines and 90 more in Lower Pines will now also be available to reserve in addition to Upper Pines , Gediman said .
He said only “ a small number ” of sites in North Pines and Lower Pines would remain closed .
“ We ’ ve seen improved air @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Gediman .
He warned , however , that as air quality fluctuates in days and weeks ahead , “ there may be a need for intermittent closures.
” The park will still require day-use reservations to enter whether visitors are spending the night or not , a measure adopted earlier this year to reduce risk of COVID-19 infection through crowding .
Meanwhile , the nearby Creek fire continues to burn .
As of Wednesday morning , it has covered more than 289,000 acres , blackening large portions of Sierra National Forest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lakes .
Authorities said the fire was 42 % contained .
Nearby , along the Sierra foothills , Kings Canyon National Park was expected to reopen Wednesday but Sequoia National Park remained closed .
On the coast , Highway 1 reopened Monday after a closure that lasted more than a month as firefighters battled the Dolan fire near Big Sur in Monterey County .
Much public land remains closed because of fire threats or air befouled by smoke .
Several of Monterey County ’ s state parks are still shut , including Julia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reserve , Limekiln , Pfeiffer Big Sur and Point Sur State Historic Park .
As of Wednesday morning , the Dolan fire had blackened more than 128,000 acres and was 44 % contained .
More than 500 firefighters are working on the blaze , whose origins are unknown .
In Southern California , all of the region ’ s national forests are closed , including Angeles , Cleveland , Los Padres and San Bernardino national forests .
The Forest Service has a regional order in place that closes those forests through Thursday .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ decision ” on when to reopen , said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jonathan Groveman .
As of Wednesday noon , the Bobcat fire in Angeles National Forest had claimed more than 113,000 acres and was 38 % contained .
Farther north , these national forests are open to varying degrees : Eldorado , Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit , Lassen , Mendocino , Modoc , Plumas , Shasta-Trinity , Stanislaus and Tahoe .
These forests are closed through at least Thursday : Inyo , Sequoia , Sierra , Klamath and Six Rivers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ forest web pages for specific restrictions ; the Cal Fire website for updates on the blazes in progress ; and AirNow or a comparable source for air-quality readings .

Flames consume dry brush around Santa Barbara firefighters as they set a backfire along Oro Quincy Highway in the aftermath of the Bear fire in Oroville. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A man stands on a dock at the Shaver Lake Marina as the Creek fire approaches on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Flames leap into the sky as fire engulfs trees near Shaver Lake. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A duck swims in Shaver Lake as the Creek fire approaches on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A firefighter conducts a back-burn operation along California 168 as the Creek fire approaches the Shaver Lake Marina. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A member of the Laguna Hotshots Crew battles the Creek fire on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A vehicle streaks along California 168 as the Creek fire creeps closer to Shaver Lake, Calif., on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A member of the Laguna Hotshots Crew is silhouetted against a background of flames. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the Laguna Hotshots Crew walk down Huntington Lake Road to battle the Creek fire on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
The Laguna Hotshots Crew out of the Cleveland National Forest battles the Creek fire as it approaches the Southern California Edison Big Creek Hydroelectric Plant on Sept. 6 in Big Creek, Calif. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A vehicle streaks by as Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeffery Shipman stands along California 168, with the Creek fire in the background on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A table stands outside the destroyed Cressman’s General Store in Fresno County. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)
A plume rises from the Bear fire as it burns along Lake Oroville in Butte County. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)
Frank Martinez, left, and Rick Wolfe with their nine dogs in Oroville, Calif. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A firefighter battles the Creek fire as it threatens homes in Madera County. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)
A crew from Trinity River Conservation Camp, a prison facility, does mop-up work on Stringtown Road on Friday, the day after a flare-up in the area. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Melted goggles lie on the ground next to the burned-out truck on Stringtown Road. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Propane gas burns Friday at the ruins of a home on Zink Road in the Berry Creek area of Butte County. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Thick smoke shrouds iconic Half Dome towering over Yosemite Valley in a view from Sentinel Bridge over the Merced River on Sept. 13. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A deer grazes in Cook’s Meadow as thick smoke shrouds the iconic landmarks of Yosemite Valley. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Thick smoke from multiple forest fires shrouds iconic El Capitan, right, and the walls of Yosemite Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Lance Georgeson of Mammoth Lakes paddleboards on Tenaya Lake on Sept. 13 in Yosemite National Park. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Yosemite National Park will reopen Friday, with scores of campsites available that have been closed all summer.
The move, announced Wednesday, follows a Sept. 17 closure because of unhealthy air quality.
The park reopens at 9 a.m. Friday. Park spokesman Scott Gediman said campsites in Yosemite Valley’s Upper Pines, North Pinse and Lower Pines campgrounds will be available for campers beginning Friday night. The campgrounds can be booked at recreation.gov.
Through the summer, Yosemite has tried to reduce COVID-19 risks by making available only about half of the 240 campsites in Yosemite Valley’s Upper Pines area, about 120 spots. Virtually all of the park’s other campsites have been closed for months, and longstanding reservations were cancelled as a result.
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Beginning Friday, most of of the 90 campsites in North Pines and 90 more in Lower Pines will now also be available to reserve in addition to Upper Pines, Gediman said. He said only “a small number” of sites in North Pines and Lower Pines would remain closed.
“We’ve seen improved air quality over the last few days,” said Gediman. He warned, however, that as air quality fluctuates in days and weeks ahead, “there may be a need for intermittent closures.”
The park will still require day-use reservations to enter whether visitors are spending the night or not, a measure adopted earlier this year to reduce risk of COVID-19 infection through crowding.
Meanwhile, the nearby Creek fire continues to burn. As of Wednesday morning, it has covered more than 289,000 acres, blackening large portions of Sierra National Forest and drawing within 14 miles of Mammoth Lakes. Authorities said the fire was 42% contained.
Nearby, along the Sierra foothills, Kings Canyon National Park was expected to reopen Wednesday but Sequoia National Park remained closed.
On the coast, Highway 1 reopened Monday after a closure that lasted more than a month as firefighters battled the Dolan fire near Big Sur in Monterey County.
Much public land remains closed because of fire threats or air befouled by smoke. Several of Monterey County’s state parks are still shut, including Julia Pfeiffer Burns, John Little State Natural Reserve, Limekiln, Pfeiffer Big Sur and Point Sur State Historic Park.
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As of Wednesday morning, the Dolan fire had blackened more than 128,000 acres and was 44% contained. More than 500 firefighters are working on the blaze, whose origins are unknown.
In Southern California, all of the region’s national forests are closed, including Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and San Bernardino national forests.
The Forest Service has a regional order in place that closes those forests through Thursday. It’s still “a day-to-day decision” on when to reopen, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jonathan Groveman.
As of Wednesday noon, the Bobcat fire in Angeles National Forest had claimed more than 113,000 acres and was 38% contained.
Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks remain open.
Farther north, these national forests are open to varying degrees: Eldorado, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta-Trinity, Stanislaus and Tahoe. These forests are closed through at least Thursday: Inyo, Sequoia, Sierra, Klamath and Six Rivers.
Authorities urged would-be visitors to check individual forest web pages for specific restrictions; the Cal Fire website for updates on the blazes in progress; and AirNow or a comparable source for air-quality readings.


latimes--2020-09-23--Bobcat fire leaves moonscape of crumbled rock, ash and dust. Did beloved cabins survive?

Crumbled rock , ash and dust carpet the winding road into Big Santa Anita Canyon , a remote outpost just north of Arcadia in the confines of the Angeles National Forest .
The canyon has long been a popular destination for hikers and tourists looking to escape the urban trappings of Los Angeles , but on Tuesday afternoon , it was eerily quiet : The road has been blocked since the Bobcat fire swept through the area days before , leaving in its wake a barren moonscape of seared and naked hills .
The massive fire , which has since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the start .
At times , fire crews seemed to be playing whack-a-mole with the flames , achieving containment at one edge only to see an unexpected flare-up at another .
Yet , the fire ’ s erratic behavior that has necessitated evacuations from Sierra Madre to Pearblossom is what appears to have spared portions of the canyon , including the Adams ’ Pack Station and picnic area , which emerged largely unscathed save for a handful of burn spots .
“ I ’ m so grateful that my place is still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who lives in and owns Adams ’ Pack Station .
“ I was expecting it not to be .
Everything around us burned.
” Not yet accounted for , however , are 80 historic cabins and the separate 1893-built Sturtevant Camp , all of which are tucked deeper into the canyon .
Built between 1907 and 1936 , the cabins are part of a unique relationship between Angelenos and the national forest .
“ Cabin owners own the building and lease the land , ” U.S. Forest Service spokesman Andrew Mitchell explained .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ sit on federal land , are granted 20-year special-use permits from the Forest Service .
The cabins can ’ t be purchased using a mortgage , and owners can not use them as their primary residence .
The result is a small , close-knit community of people who “ gather to work on each other ’ s cabins and socialize together , bonded by our shared experience and love for this unique place that has been a community since the early 1900s , ” said Ben Fitzsimmons , president of the Big Santa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aren ’ t accessible by car .
The closest is a three-quarter-mile hike from the pack station , and the most distant is four miles in .
Donkeys are typically available to transport personal items for a dollar per pound .
There is no electricity , no municipal water , no septic system , no garbage service and no address , according to the cabin association .
“ A cabin owner here is in custody of a living example of California history and should respect it as such , ” the association says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community fears the worst .
“ We think we lost most of it , ” Deb Burgess , a cabin owner and president of the Sturtevant Camp , said in the days following the flare-up in the forest .
As of Wednesday , no one — neither fire crews nor cabin owners — had laid eyes on the cabins or camp .
The access trail is littered with fallen rocks and trees , and officials said it will require hand crews and mechanical work to make it passable .
Moran said the community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while cabin owners await information .
“ Some people have had those cabins since before they were born , and they have been passed down through generation after generation , ” she said .
“ And although it wasn ’ t their main home , some people literally spent every weekend in the cabin , and so you feel their loss.
” Cabin owners are also doubtful about whether the Forest Service will allow any burned structures to be rebuilt .
Burgess said she was previously told that anything more than 50 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s a hard question , ” Mitchell said of the possibility of rebuilding .
“ There are historical factors , but these are extreme circumstances.
” The community is now stuck in limbo while it waits for an official update , which may take weeks , if not longer .
Standing in the canyon , it ’ s easy to imagine the outcome going either way : The unpredictable fire left some hillsides black , while others remain green and untouched , some trees dead and others standing tall .
Yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reinforces the difficulty — and the magnitude — of what fire crews have been battling .
President Trump ’ s claims that California should have “ raked the floor ” of its forests better to prevent the spread of historic wildfires seems out of touch with the vast terrain .
On Tuesday , chairs and tables at the shuttered pack station sat like ghostly reminders of the once-thriving outdoor destination .
The canyon was quiet , save for a soot-blackened squirrel that ran across the pack station ’ s deck , a welcome @ @ @ @ @ @ @ characterized by uncertainty .

A fire-damaged sign stands above the Gabrielino National Recreation Trail at Chantry Flat. It is believed that many cabins along the Sturtevant Trail have been damaged or destroyed by the Bobcat fire.
Crumbled rock, ash and dust carpet the winding road into Big Santa Anita Canyon, a remote outpost just north of Arcadia in the confines of the Angeles National Forest.
The canyon has long been a popular destination for hikers and tourists looking to escape the urban trappings of Los Angeles, but on Tuesday afternoon, it was eerily quiet: The road has been blocked since the Bobcat fire swept through the area days before, leaving in its wake a barren moonscape of seared and naked hills.
The massive fire, which has burned more than 113,000 acres since igniting Sept. 6, has been fickle from the start. At times, fire crews seemed to be playing whack-a-mole with the flames, achieving containment at one edge only to see an unexpected flare-up at another.
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Yet, the fire’s erratic behavior, which necessitated evacuations from Sierra Madre to Pearblossom, is what appears to have spared portions of the canyon, including the Adams Pack Station and picnic area, which emerged largely unscathed save for a handful of burn spots.
California Photos: Bobcat fire rages in the Angeles National Forest Fears of a significant spread of the Bobcat fire dissipated as Santa Ana winds failed to materialize, but foothill communities remain on high alert.
“I’m so grateful that my place is still standing,” said Maggie Moran, who lives in and owns Adams Pack Station. “I was expecting it not to be. Everything around us burned.”
Not yet accounted for, however, are 80 historic cabins and the separate Sturtevant Camp, built in 1893, all of which are tucked deeper into the canyon. Built between 1907 and 1936, the cabins are part of a unique relationship between Angelenos and the national forest.
California Crews ‘turn a corner’ in Bobcat fire as containment doubles Progress in fighting the Bobcat fire has been so significant that the estimated containment date has been moved up by one month, to Sept. 30.
“Cabin owners own the building and lease the land,” U.S. Forest Service spokesman Andrew Mitchell explained.
Private owners of the cabins, which sit on federal land, are granted 20-year special-use permits from the Forest Service. The cabins can’t be purchased using a mortgage, and owners cannot use them as their primary residence.
The result is a small, close-knit community of people who “gather to work on each other’s cabins and socialize together, bonded by our shared experience and love for this unique place that has been a community since the early 1900s,” said Ben Fitzsimmons, president of the Big Santa Anita Canyon Permittees Assn.
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The cabins aren’t accessible by car. The closest is a three-quarter-mile hike from the pack station, and the most distant is four miles in. Donkeys are typically available to transport personal items for a dollar per pound. There is no electricity, no municipal water, no septic system, no garbage service and no address, according to the cabin association.
“A cabin owner here is in custody of a living example of California history and should respect it as such,” the association says on its website.
California Photos: Bobcat fire rages in the Angeles National Forest Fears of a significant spread of the Bobcat fire dissipated as Santa Ana winds failed to materialize, but foothill communities remain on high alert.
Now, the community fears the worst.
“We think we lost most of it,” Deb Burgess, a cabin owner and president of the Sturtevant Camp, said in the days following the flare-up in the forest.
As of Wednesday, neither fire crews nor cabin owners had laid eyes on the cabins or camp. The access trail is littered with fallen rocks and trees, and officials say it will require hand crews and mechanical work to make it passable.
Moran said the community was both “hopeful and mourning” while cabin owners awaited information.
“Some people have had those cabins since before they were born, and they have been passed down through generation after generation,” she said. “And although it wasn’t their main home, some people literally spent every weekend in the cabin, and so you feel their loss.”
Cabin owners are also doubtful about whether the Forest Service will allow any burned structures to be rebuilt. Burgess said she was previously told that anything more than 50% destroyed could not be restored.
“That’s a hard question,” Mitchell said of the possibility of rebuilding. “There are historical factors, but these are extreme circumstances.”
Rachel Smith, deputy forest supervisor, echoed Mitchell’s sentiment.
“These are tragic and incredibly challenging circumstances,” she said Thursday. “Our first priority as a forest will be to communicate directly with the special-use permittees as soon as we have damage assessments.”
Smith says once the Forest Service have a clear sense of the fire’s impact on the camp and cabins, officials will work with cabin owners individually to determine what options are available.
The community is now stuck in limbo while it waits for an official update, which may take weeks, if not longer.
Standing in the canyon, it’s easy to imagine the outcome going either way: The unpredictable fire left some hillsides blackened, while others remain green and untouched, some trees dead and others standing tall.
Yet the view from inside the canyon also reinforces the difficulty — and the magnitude — of fire crews’ task in battling the blaze. President Trump’s claims that California should have “raked the floor” of its forests better to prevent the spread of historic wildfires seems out of touch with the vast terrain.
On Tuesday, chairs and tables at the shuttered pack station sat like ghostly reminders of the once-thriving outdoor destination.
The canyon was quiet, save for a soot-blackened squirrel that ran across the pack station’s deck, a welcome sign of life amid a fire season characterized by uncertainty.


latimes--2020-09-23--Newsom orders 2035 phaseout of gas-powered vehicles, calls for fracking ban

Emphasizing that California must stay at the forefront of the fight against climate change , Gov .
Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order to require all new car sales to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and threw his support behind a ban on the controversial use of hydraulic fracturing by oil companies .
Under Newsom ’ s order , the California Air Resources Board would implement the phaseout of new gas-powered cars and light trucks and also require medium and heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emission by 2045 where possible .
California would be the first state in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , though 15 countries already have committed to phasing out gas-powered cars .
Newsom did not take executive action to ban the controversial oil extraction method known as fracking but called on the state Legislature to do so , setting up what could be a contentious political fight when lawmakers reconvene in Sacramento next year .
Taken together , the two climate change efforts would accelerate the state ’ s already aggressive efforts to curtail carbon emissions and petroleum hazards and promise to exacerbate tensions with a Trump administration intent on bridling California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the next 15 years we will eliminate in the state of California the sales of internal combustion engines , ” Newsom said at a news conference in Sacramento before signing the order .
“ If you want to reduce asthma , if you want to mitigate the rise of sea level , if you want to mitigate the loss of ice sheets around the globe , then this is a policy for other states to follow.
” Newsom ’ s executive order calls ending the sale of new new gasoline-powered cars by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it also orders the Air Resources Board to immediately begin drafting regulations to achieve it by that year .
The governor acknowledged that not everyone would embrace the 100 % zero-emissions mandate but emphasized that nothing in his order would prevent Californians from owning gas-powered cars or buying or selling them used .
“ We ’ re not taking anything away , ” Newsom said .
“ We ’ re providing an abundance of new choices and new technology , being agnostic about how we get to zero emissions , but being committed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Newsom said that California ’ s action will help spur greater innovation for zero-emission vehicles and , by creating a huge market , will drive down the cost of those cars and trucks .
More than 1.63 million new cars and trucks are expected to be sold in the state in 2020 , according to the California New Car Dealers Assn .
He noted that California is home to 34 manufacturers of electric vehicles and that just under 50 % of all the electric vehicle purchases in the country are in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not reduce the hazards posed by carbon emissions but serve as a catalyst to bring more green economic jobs to California , he said .
Climate scientists and advocates say the world must stop production of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2030 in order to keep global warming to tolerable levels .
California and other governments across the world are seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 , and it will take years for vehicles to turn over and be replaced by zero-emission models .
Beau Boeckmann , president of Galpin Motors dealerships @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mandate “ sounds a little scary to some at first blush , ” but that everything evolves in this changing world , and everyone needs to prepare for it .
The auto industry eventually will benefit by doing to right thing , he said .
“ Pollution is a terrible thing .
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s , and you couldn ’ t see across the valley with that brown haze , ” Boeckmann said .
“ L.A .
was known for smog like London was known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President and Chief Executive John Bozzellas said the electric car market is critical to auto manufacturers , but “ neither mandates nor bans build successful markets.
” State Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield , which is in the heart of California oil country , criticized Newsom ’ s order as “ extremist , ” saying the governor ’ s time would be better used protecting Californians from wildfires rather than banning cars that most state residents rely on to provide for their families .
“ The fact is that Californians can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ petroleum byproducts , ” Grove said .
“ These products are not just the gas in our cars , they are the asphalt on our roads , the plastic holding together electric vehicles , medical equipment vulnerable patients rely on , footballs our children play with , telephones , toothpaste , trash bags , and so much more.
” Cathy Reheis-Boyd , president of the Western States Petroleum Assn.
, noted that Newsom had lined up expensive zero-emission cars as a backdrop to his press conference .
“ It ’ s interesting that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly $ 200,000 worth of electric vehicles as he told Californians that their reliable and affordable cars and trucks would soon be not welcome in our state , ” she said .
“ Big and bold ideas only make sense if affordable for us all and backed by science , data and needed infrastructure.
” In his announcement Monday , Newsom stopped short of mandating health and safety buffer zones around oil and gas wells and refineries .
His executive order directed the state Department of Conservation to consider such zones as it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers from the impacts of oil extraction activities , ” but the agency already is doing so .
Newsom has resisted calls by environmental and public health advocates to implement those zones immediately .
Newsom sharply criticized the Trump administration this month for ignoring the reality of climate change , saying that California ’ s deadly wildfires , some of the largest in state history , were grim reminders of what lies ahead for the nation if political leaders in Washington don ’ t take action .
“ This is a climate damn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tour of the charred landscape around the Northern California town of Oroville .
“ This is real and it ’ s happening.
” While meeting with Newsom in Sacramento last week , Trump expressed skepticism about the scientific evidence of climate change , saying : “ It ’ ll start getting cooler .
You just watch.
” The state has sued the Trump administration over efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rescind a special federal waiver that permits California to set its own strict pollution controls to improve air quality , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggressive efforts to combat climate change .
Environmentalists who had urged Newsom to accelerate California ’ s climate action praised his order to transition to zero-emission vehicles .
Newsom ’ s order “ will not only address the single largest source of climate and air pollution in California but is a major step toward boosting his state ’ s economic competitiveness and helping Californians who are suffering extraordinary harms from air pollution , ” said Fred Krupp , president of the Environmental Defense Fund .
At the same time , many other environmental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to restrict fossil fuel production and to protect the health of people living nearby .
“ If your climate leadership does not include relief for hundreds of thousands of Californians — the majority people of color — living with oil drilling in their neighborhood , then you are not serious about climate justice , ” said Martha Arguëllo executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles .
In November , Newsom imposed a temporary moratorium on new hydraulic fracking permits , saying he wanted them to undergo independent scientific review .
Since April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ close to 50 new permits to Chevron and Aera Energy , frustrating environmentalists .
“ Newsom is really good at making announcements that sound big but they actually aren ’ t .
We can ’ t let the fact that he ’ s acting on cars eclipse the fact that he ’ s still protecting the oil industry , ” said Kassie Siegel , director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity .
Siegel ’ s organization this week threatened to sue Newsom unless he halted all new permits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state , saying the governor has failed to protect the health of vulnerable Californians from pollutants released by the state ’ s petroleum industry .
Since taking office , Newsom has faced pressure from politically influential environmental groups to ban new oil and gas drilling and completely phase out fossil fuel extraction in California , one of the nation ’ s top petroleum-producing states .
But the Democratic governor has pushed back , promising to take a more measured approach that addressed the effects on oil workers and California cities and counties that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
California has 1,175 active offshore wells and 60,643 active onshore wells .
In 2019 , the state produced just under 159 million barrels of oil , CalGEM records show .
The state ’ s annual crude oil production has been consistently declining since 1985 .
California oil industry representatives have argued that phasing out oil production in the state , which has some of the strictest environmental regulations in the world , would force more oil to be imported by train and tanker ship from countries that do not have the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States Petroleum Assn.
, there are more than 26 million vehicles with internal-combustion engines in California .
Newsom ’ s order directs the state Air Resources Board to develop and propose regulations that require increasing volumes of new zero-emission passenger vehicles sold , “ towards the target of 100 % of in-state sales by 2035.
” The order also tasks air quality officials with crafting similar rules to ensure all trucks moving freight through the state ’ s seaports are zero-emissions by 2035 .
That mirrors targets set three years ago by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aimed at slashing emissions from the San Pedro Bay port complex , which remains Southern California ’ s biggest single source of smog-forming pollution .
Across California , cars , trucks and other vehicles are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases , accounting for about 40 % of the statewide total , and their emissions have been stubbornly creeping upward in recent years .
Driving down transportation pollution remains the state ’ s biggest challenge in achieving its goal of slashing planet-warming emissions 40 % below 1990 levels by 2030 .
Under current @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Board requires automakers to sell electric , fuel cell and other zero-emission vehicles in increasing percentages through 2025 .
Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 7.6 % new car registrations California in 2019 .
In 2018 , under then-Gov .
Jerry Brown , the state set a goal to put 5 million zero-emission cars on the road by 2025 .
There were 670,000 zero-emission vehicles sold in California through the end of 2019 , according to auto industry sales data .
In June , the Air Resources Board adopted the nation ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ manufacturers to sell increasing percentages of electric or fuel cell models until all new trucks sold in California are zero-emission by 2045 .
But efforts to completely phase out gas-powered cars have not gained traction .
Three years ago , Brown directed the state ’ s chief air quality regulator , Mary Nichols , to look into stepping up the state ’ s timetable .
Prior to Wednesday , her agency had only floated the idea of banning gas-powered vehicles in congested areas of the state .
And legislation lawmakers introduced in 2018 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new , gas-powered vehicles by 2040 didn ’ t move forward .
State Assemblyman Phil Ting ( D-San Francisco ) , who authored that legislation , said that “ the fastest way to make the biggest dent in slowing the effects of global warming is to embrace cleaner cars ” and applauded Newsom “ for putting us on a path that ’ s not only crucial for our planet , but also helpful in spurring green jobs as we recover from COVID-19.
” Nichols said Wednesday that the Air Resources Board is ready @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s zero-emissions order and that its scientists , engineers and lawyers “ are working to try to figure out how we can deal with the persistence of smog that makes people sick and also at the same time try to get ahead of this escalating climate problem.
” She expressed confidence that the Trump administration ’ s efforts to remove California ’ s authority to set stricter emissions standards , which the state is currently fighting in court , would not pose an obstacle to the governor ’ s new mandate .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us the authority to set exactly the kinds of standards that we have set since the late ’ 60s , ” Nichols said , “ and therefore we look forward to being able to do that in the future .
”

California will halt sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, a move he says will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 35% in the nation’s most populous state.
Emphasizing that California must stay at the forefront of the fight against climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order to require all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and threw his support behind a ban on the controversial use of hydraulic fracturing by oil companies.
Under Newsom’s order, the California Air Resources Board would implement the phaseout of new gas-powered cars and light trucks and also require medium and heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emission by 2045 where possible. California would be the first state in the nation to mandate 100% zero-emission vehicles, though 15 countries already have committed to phasing out gas-powered cars.
Newsom did not take executive action to ban the controversial oil extraction method known as fracking but called on the state Legislature to do so, setting up what could be a contentious political fight when lawmakers reconvene in Sacramento next year.
Taken together, the two climate change efforts would accelerate the state’s already aggressive efforts to curtail carbon emissions and petroleum hazards and promise to exacerbate tensions with a Trump administration intent on bridling California’s liberal environmental agenda.
“In the next 15 years we will eliminate in the state of California the sales of internal combustion engines,” Newsom said at a news conference in Sacramento before signing the order. “If you want to reduce asthma, if you want to mitigate the rise of sea level, if you want to mitigate the loss of ice sheets around the globe, then this is a policy for other states to follow.”
Newsom’s executive order calls ending the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 a “goal,” but it also orders the Air Resources Board to immediately begin drafting regulations to achieve it by that year.
Advertisement
The governor acknowledged that not everyone would embrace the 100% zero-emissions mandate but emphasized that nothing in his order would prevent Californians from owning gas-powered cars or buying or selling them used.
“We’re not taking anything away,” Newsom said. “We’re providing an abundance of new choices and new technology, being agnostic about how we get to zero emissions, but being committed to getting to zero emissions by 2035.”
Newsom said that California’s action will help spur greater innovation for zero-emission vehicles and, by creating a huge market, will drive down the cost of those cars and trucks. More than 1.63 million new cars and trucks are expected to be sold in the state in 2020, according to the California New Car Dealers Assn.
He noted that California is home to 34 manufacturers of electric vehicles and that just under 50% of all the electric vehicle purchases in the country are in this state. Phasing out gas-powered cars will not only reduce the hazards posed by carbon emissions but will also serve as a catalyst to bring more green jobs to California, he said.
Climate scientists and advocates say the world must stop production of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2030 in order to keep global warming to tolerable levels. California and other governments across the world are seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, and it will take years for vehicles to turn over and be replaced by zero-emission models.
Beau Boeckmann, president of Galpin Motors dealerships in Los Angeles, said the 2035 mandate “sounds a little scary to some at first blush,” but that everything evolves in this changing world, and everyone needs to prepare for it. The auto industry eventually will benefit by doing to right thing, he said.
“Pollution is a terrible thing. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, and you couldn’t see across the valley with that brown haze,” Boeckmann said. “L.A. was known for smog like London was known for fog.”
Advertisement
Alliance for Automotive Innovation President and Chief Executive John Bozzellas said the electric car market is crucial to auto manufacturers, but “neither mandates nor bans build successful markets.”
State Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, which is in the heart of California oil country, criticized Newsom’s order as “extremist,” saying the governor’s time would be better used protecting Californians from wildfires rather than banning cars that most state residents rely on to provide for their families.
“The fact is that Californians cannot survive without oil and gas or petroleum byproducts,” Grove said. “These products are not just the gas in our cars, they are the asphalt on our roads, the plastic holding together electric vehicles, medical equipment vulnerable patients rely on, footballs our children play with, telephones, toothpaste, trash bags, and so much more.”
Cathy Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Assn., noted that Newsom had lined up expensive zero-emission cars as a backdrop to his news conference.
“It’s interesting that the governor was standing in front of nearly $200,000 worth of electric vehicles as he told Californians that their reliable and affordable cars and trucks would soon be not welcome in our state,” she said. “Big and bold ideas only make sense if affordable for us all and backed by science, data and needed infrastructure.”
In his announcement Monday, Newsom stopped short of mandating health and safety buffer zones around oil and gas wells and refineries. His executive order directed the state Department of Conservation to consider such zones as it drafts regulations to protect “communities and workers from the impacts of oil extraction activities,” but the agency already is doing so.
Newsom has resisted calls by environmental and public health advocates to implement those zones immediately.
Newsom sharply criticized the Trump administration this month for ignoring the reality of climate change, saying that California’s deadly wildfires, some of the largest in state history, were grim reminders of what lies ahead for the nation if political leaders in Washington don’t take action.
“This is a climate damn emergency,” Newsom said during a tour of the charred landscape around the Northern California town of Oroville. “This is real, and it’s happening.”
While meeting with Newsom in Sacramento last week, Trump expressed skepticism about the scientific evidence of climate change, saying: “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch.”
The state has sued the Trump administration over efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rescind a special federal waiver that permits California to set its own strict pollution controls to improve air quality, the foundation of the state’s aggressive efforts to combat climate change.
Environmentalists who had urged Newsom to accelerate California’s climate action praised his order to transition to zero-emission vehicles.
Newsom’s order “will not only address the single largest source of climate and air pollution in California but is a major step toward boosting his state’s economic competitiveness and helping Californians who are suffering extraordinary harms from air pollution,” said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund.
At the same time, many other environmental groups faulted him for not doing more to restrict fossil fuel production and to protect the health of people living nearby.
“If your climate leadership does not include relief for hundreds of thousands of Californians — the majority people of color — living with oil drilling in their neighborhood, then you are not serious about climate justice,” said Martha Arguëllo, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles.
In November, Newsom imposed a temporary moratorium on new hydraulic fracking permits, saying he wanted them to undergo independent scientific review. Since April, however, his administration has issued close to 50 new permits to Chevron and Aera Energy, frustrating environmentalists.
“Newsom is really good at making announcements that sound big, but they actually aren’t. We can’t let the fact that he’s acting on cars eclipse the fact that he’s still protecting the oil industry,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Siegel’s organization this week threatened to sue Newsom unless he halted all new permits for gas and oil wells in the state, saying the governor has failed to protect the health of vulnerable Californians from pollutants released by the state’s petroleum industry.
Since taking office, Newsom has faced pressure from politically influential environmental groups to ban new oil and gas drilling and completely phase out fossil fuel extraction in California, one of the nation’s top petroleum-producing states.
But the Democratic governor has pushed back, promising to take a more measured approach that addressed the effects on oil workers and California cities and counties that are economically dependent on the petroleum industry.
California has 1,175 active offshore wells and 60,643 active onshore wells. In 2019, the state produced just under 159 million barrels of oil, CalGEM records show. The state’s annual crude oil production has been consistently declining since 1985.
California oil industry representatives have argued that phasing out oil production in the state, which has some of the strictest environmental regulations in the world, would force more oil to be imported by train and tanker ship from countries that do not have the same environmental safeguards. According to the Western States Petroleum Assn., there are more than 26 million vehicles with internal-combustion engines in California.
Newsom’s order directs the state Air Resources Board to develop and propose regulations that require increasing volumes of new zero-emission passenger vehicles sold, “towards the target of 100% of in-state sales by 2035.”
The order also tasks air quality officials with crafting similar rules to ensure all trucks moving freight through the state’s seaports are zero-emission by 2035. That mirrors targets set three years ago by the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach aimed at slashing emissions from the San Pedro Bay port complex, which remains Southern California’s biggest single source of smog-forming pollution.
Across California, cars, trucks and other vehicles are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, accounting for about 40% of the statewide total, and their emissions have been stubbornly creeping upward in recent years. Driving down transportation pollution remains the state’s biggest challenge in achieving its goal of slashing planet-warming emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
Under current regulations, California’s Air Resources Board requires automakers to sell electric, fuel cell and other zero-emission vehicles in increasing percentages through 2025. Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 7.6% of new car registrations in California in 2019.
In 2018, under then-Gov. Jerry Brown, the state set a goal to put 5 million zero-emission cars on the road by 2025. There were 670,000 zero-emission vehicles sold in California through the end of 2019, according to auto industry sales data.
In June, the Air Resources Board adopted the nation’s first sales mandate requiring heavy-duty truck manufacturers to sell increasing percentages of electric or fuel cell models until all new trucks sold in California are zero-emission by 2045.
But efforts to completely phase out gas-powered cars have not gained traction. Three years ago, Brown directed the state’s chief air quality regulator, Mary Nichols, to look into stepping up the state’s timetable. Prior to Wednesday, her agency had only floated the idea of banning gas-powered vehicles in congested areas of the state. And legislation lawmakers introduced in 2018 that would have banned the sale of new, gas-powered vehicles by 2040 didn’t move forward.
State Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who wrote that legislation, said “the fastest way to make the biggest dent in slowing the effects of global warming is to embrace cleaner cars” and applauded Newsom “for putting us on a path that’s not only crucial for our planet, but also helpful in spurring green jobs as we recover from COVID-19.”
Nichols said Wednesday that the Air Resources Board is ready to move forward with the governor’s zero-emissions order and that its scientists, engineers and lawyers “are working to try to figure out how we can deal with the persistence of smog that makes people sick and also at the same time try to get ahead of this escalating climate problem.”
She expressed confidence that the Trump administration’s efforts to remove California’s authority to set stricter emissions standards, which the state is currently fighting in court, would not pose an obstacle to the governor’s new mandate.
“We believe the Clean Air Act gives us the authority to set exactly the kinds of standards that we have set since the late ’60s,” Nichols said, “and therefore we look forward to being able to do that in the future.”
Times staff writer Russ Mitchell contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-09-23--Bobcat fire investigation includes Southern California Edison equipment

Federal officials are focusing on utility equipment around Cogswell Dam as part of their investigation into what sparked the massive Bobcat fire , according to paperwork filed with state utility regulators .
In an incident report filed with the California Public Utilities Commission last week , Southern California Edison indicated its grid experienced an issue near the area where the Bobcat fire started .
The report was made after U.S. Forest Service investigators requested some of the utility ’ s equipment for inspection , the report states .
Ignition of the Bobcat fire was reported near the dam at 12:21 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in its filing .
Five minutes earlier , at 12:16 p.m. , “ the Jarvis 12 kV circuit out of Dalton Substation experienced a relay operation , ” the utility wrote , indicating its equipment detected some kind of abnormal condition or event on the circuit .
The company said there already was smoke developing in the area prior to the activity on its circuit .
U.S. Forest Service officials requested a specific section of the utility ’ s overhead conductor be removed and handed over for inspection .
Investigators were given the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Song said .
“ Southern California Edison understands this is a difficult time for the many people who are being impacted by the Bobcat fire , ” he said .
“ Our thoughts are also with those affected by the wildfires currently burning across the western United States.
” The utility filed the incident report because of the request for equipment from the Forest Service , Edison officials explained in the filing with the utilities commission .
“ While USFS has not alleged that SCE facilities were involved in the ignition of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an abundance of caution given USFS ’ s interest in retaining SCE facilities in connection with its investigation , ” the company wrote .
Since it began , the Bobcat fire , has scorched more than 113,000 acres of rugged terrain in and around the Angeles National Forest as it has threatened communities in both the San Gabriel and Antelope valleys .
It has destroyed at least 29 structures and continues to threaten the Mt .
Wilson Observatory .
As of Wednesday morning , it was 38 % contained .

A water-dropping helicopter makes a run at the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest near Llano.
Federal officials are focusing on utility equipment around Cogswell Dam as part of their investigation into what sparked the massive Bobcat fire, according to paperwork filed with state utility regulators.
In an incident report filed with the California Public Utilities Commission last week, Southern California Edison indicated its grid experienced an issue near the area where the Bobcat fire started. The report was made after U.S. Forest Service investigators requested some of the utility’s equipment for inspection, the report states.
Ignition of the Bobcat fire was reported near the dam at 12:21 p.m. Sept. 6, the utility wrote in its filing.
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Five minutes earlier, at 12:16 p.m., “the Jarvis 12 kV circuit out of Dalton Substation experienced a relay operation,” the utility wrote, indicating its equipment detected some kind of abnormal condition or event on the circuit.
The company said there already was smoke developing in the area prior to the activity on its circuit.
California Crews ‘turn a corner’ in Bobcat fire as containment doubles Progress in fighting the Bobcat fire has been so significant that the estimated containment date has been moved up by one month, to Sept. 30.
U.S. Forest Service officials requested a specific section of the utility’s overhead conductor be removed and handed over for inspection. Investigators were given the equipment Sept. 16, Edison spokesman David Song said.
“Southern California Edison understands this is a difficult time for the many people who are being impacted by the Bobcat fire,” he said. “Our thoughts are also with those affected by the wildfires currently burning across the western United States.”
The utility filed the incident report because of the request for equipment from the Forest Service, Edison officials explained in the filing with the utilities commission.
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“While USFS has not alleged that SCE facilities were involved in the ignition of the Bobcat Fire, SCE submits this report in an abundance of caution given USFS’s interest in retaining SCE facilities in connection with its investigation,” the company wrote.
Since it began, the Bobcat fire, has scorched more than 113,000 acres of rugged terrain in and around the Angeles National Forest as it has threatened communities in both the San Gabriel and Antelope valleys. It has destroyed at least 29 structures and continues to threaten the Mt. Wilson Observatory. As of Wednesday morning, it was 38% contained.


latimes--2020-09-23--Cal State gets its first chancellor of color: Fresno State president Joseph I. Castro

Joseph I. Castro , the grandson of farmworkers and a first-generation college student who rose during a career in higher education to lead Fresno State , has been named chancellor of California State University , the largest four-year system in the nation , trustees announced Wednesday .
He will be the first person of color to lead the system with a life story that will sound familiar to many of CSU ’ s 480,000 students , 43 % of whom are Latino and nearly half of whom come from low-income families .
A native of the San Joaquin Valley whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the son of a single mother who worked as a beautician .
He attended UC Berkeley through a program for promising Latino students from farming communities , an opportunity that he has described as “ transformational ” in the course of his life .
At Fresno State he made his mark as an advocate for student needs , colleagues said .
Castro , 53 , will become the eighth chancellor of a 23-campus system that is a production engine for the state ’ s nurses , teachers , engineers and architects .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ students were people of color and 54 % were the first in their families to pursue a bachelor ’ s degree .
In an interview , Castro said his own experience with higher education moved him to pursue it as a career .
“ I observed how important higher education was in eliminating disparities , ” he said .
“ I ’ m really thankful for the opportunity to serve as chancellor because I want to give back .
I see the CSU as a national model for accessibility and transformational learning.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” to serve students at Fresno State who come from backgrounds just like his .
“ I ’ m looking forward to doing that at the CSU system level , ” he said .
Castro takes the helm amid the coronavirus crisis that has forced the vast majority of the system ’ s students online for the remainder of the academic year and caused $ 750 million in losses systemwide so far .
The recession has also taken a toll , leading the state to slash its funding for the CSU by $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of wildfires , among the worst in California ’ s history , have affected areas near several CSU campuses , including Humboldt State , Chico State and San Francisco State , where enrollment was already dipping .
The current board of trustees and White have made diversity in leadership a top priority , appointing 12 women as campus presidents during White ’ s tenure — including one Black woman , one Latina and two Asian American women .
Castro was selected after a months-long search process that began last fall after White announced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was put on hold after White delayed his retirement because of the pandemic and then resumed in the summer .
A subcommittee of trustees led the process , together with the search firm Isaacson , Miller and an advisory committee made up of representatives from faculty , students and administration .
Castro is expected to begin his duties in the chancellor post on Jan. 4 .
He will receive a salary of $ 625,000 , a 31 % increase over White ’ s salary of $ 477,771 .
Under ordinary circumstances , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requiring advocacy before the governor and Legislature for funds ; negotiation in collective bargaining with powerful faculty and trade unions ; a commitment to shared governance with campus presidents and faculty ; and bold policymaking that broadens access and improves success rates for a diverse student population while ensuring the long-term viability of the institution .
Before the pandemic , the CSU had been on track to continue increasing its budget , partly to meet growing student demand .
At seven campuses — San Luis Obispo , Fresno , Fullerton , Los Angeles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Jose — the number of qualified applicants exceeds available spots in every program and across the campus as a whole .
While fall enrollment is down at some campuses , including Chico , Humboldt and San Francisco , others have seen steady or even increased enrollment amid the pandemic .
But COVID-19 dealt heavy blows to the system .
In addition to the campuses losses of about $ 750 million since March , Gov .
Gavin Newsom announced a permanent reduction of $ 299 million , or 7.4 % , to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the CSU .
Even with money from the federal government and reserves , that left the CSU with a hole in its budget , forcing campuses to cancel employee travel , forego building upgrades , freeze new hiring and , most recently , implement layoffs .
During Tuesday ’ s portion of the trustees ’ meeting , dozens of staff , faculty and students protested the staff layoffs announced across CSU campuses in recent weeks , pleading with trustees to use more of their $ 1.7-billion “ rainy day fund ” and find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abraham Aguirre , a painter at Cal State Fullerton , said he just bought a house in July and was relying on his job to sponsor a green card for his wife , a Mexican citizen .
“ By this layoff , you ’ re not only potentially taking my house away , you ’ re taking away her green card , ” Aguirre said .
“ The other day my wife asked me , ‘ when are we going to have a baby ?
’ We ’ re recently married .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ Baby , in nine months I ’ m not going to have health insurance ...
I don ’ t know.
” The pivot to online classes has been difficult for many faculty members and students , who have reported a lack of access to and familiarity with remote learning technology .
Many students say they don ’ t have quiet study space or are unable to get help from tutors and other support personnel .
With remote instruction continuing across the system until next summer , some faculty members have expressed concern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be undone .
In addition , even before the virus hit , significant shares of Cal State students faced food and housing insecurity — an issue White sought to address during his tenure through his “ basic needs initiative ” and one likely to continue as a major student priority during the next chancellor ’ s tenure .
These issues will not be foreign to the incoming chancellor , who has led Fresno State since 2013 after serving for 23 years in the University of California system , including in the office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chancellor of student academic affairs and professor of family and community medicine at UC San Francisco , one of the nation ’ s top medical schools .
Both at UC San Francisco and at Fresno State , he earned a reputation as an able fundraiser , someone who was easy to work with .
“ He ’ s essentially a quiet , self-effacing person , ” said Fresno State academic senate chair Thomas Holyoke .
“ He has a tendency to admit his mistakes when they happen – a perfectly likeable person.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ science and later a Master of Public Policy degree at Berkeley .
He went on to earn a doctorate in higher education policy and leadership from Stanford , where he wrote his dissertation on university presidents .

Joseph I. Castro was named Wednesday to become the eighth chancellor of the 23-campus California State University system.
Joseph I. Castro, the grandson of farmworkers and a first-generation college student who rose during a career in higher education to lead Cal State Fresno, has been named chancellor of California State University, the largest four-year system in the nation, trustees announced Wednesday.
He will be the first person of color to lead the system, with a life story that will sound familiar to many of the Cal State system’s 480,000 students, 43% of whom are Latino and nearly half of whom come from low-income families.
A native of the San Joaquin Valley whose great-grandparents emigrated from Mexico and lived in tents by the Santa Fe Railroad, not far from the Fresno campus, Castro is the son of a single mother who worked as a beautician. He attended UC Berkeley through a program for promising Latino students from farming communities. At Cal State Fresno he made his mark as a thoughtful listener and an advocate for student needs and equity, colleagues said.
Castro, 53, will become the eighth chancellor of a 23-campus system that is a production engine for the state’s nurses, teachers, engineers and architects. In fall 2019, 62% of its students were people of color and 54% were the first in their families to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
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In an interview, Castro recalled how, through the Berkeley admission program, he was invited to bring a filled-out application to a meeting with a counselor, who stamped it “admitted” on the spot.
“I had no idea that was going to happen — it changed my whole life. That’s a gift that I continue to try to pay back,” Castro said, his voice breaking with emotion. “There’s no way I would have been able to even imagine that, without the initiative of the leader of that campus at the time and their interest in more students from the San Joaquin Valley.
“That really drove me to think about higher education as a career, as a student feeling that transformational impact,” he said.
Castro earned a B.A. in political science and later a master of public policy degree at Berkeley. He went on to earn a doctorate in higher education policy and leadership from Stanford, where he wrote his dissertation on university presidents.
Castro said it has been “gratifying” to serve students at Cal State Fresno who come from backgrounds just like his. “I’m looking forward to doing that at the CSU system level,” he said.
Castro takes the helm amid the coronavirus crisis that has forced the vast majority of the system’s students online for the remainder of the academic year and caused $750 million in losses systemwide so far. The recession has also taken a toll, leading the state to slash its funding for the system by $299 million. And the current round of wildfires, among the worst in California’s history, have affected areas near several Cal State campuses, including Humboldt, Chico and San Francisco, where enrollment was already dipping.
The board of trustees and system Chancellor Timothy B. White have made diversity in leadership a top priority, appointing 12 women as campus presidents during White’s tenure — including one Black woman, one Latina and two Asian American women.
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Castro was selected after a months-long search process that began last fall after White announced his plan to retire.
“Joe, more than anybody, really embodies the students,” said Cal State board chair Lillian Kimbell, adding that his fundraising success, relationships in the community and ability to connect with students combined to make him “the whole package that we need right now.”
Castro is expected to begin his duties Jan. 4. He will receive a salary of $625,000, a 31% increase over White’s salary of $477,771.
Under ordinary circumstances, the top job is a difficult one, requiring advocacy before the governor and Legislature for funds; negotiation in collective bargaining with powerful faculty and trade unions; a commitment to shared governance with campus presidents and faculty; and bold policymaking that broadens access and improves success rates for a diverse student population while ensuring the long-term viability of the institution.
Before the pandemic, the Cal State system had been on track to continue increasing its budget, partly to meet growing student demand. At seven campuses — San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Fullerton, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego and San Jose — the number of qualified applicants exceeds available spots in every program. While fall enrollment is down at some campuses, including Chico, Humboldt and San Francisco, others have seen steady or even increased enrollment amid the pandemic.
But COVID-19 dealt heavy blows to the system. In addition to the $750 million in campus losses since March, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a permanent reduction of $299 million, or 7.4%, to the state’s base budget allocation to the system. Even with money from the federal government and reserves, that left Cal State with a hole in its budget, forcing campuses to cancel employee travel, forgo building upgrades, freeze new hiring and, most recently, implement layoffs.
The pivot to online classes has been difficult for many faculty members and students, who have reported a lack of access to and familiarity with remote learning technology. Many students say they don’t have quiet study space or are unable to get help from tutors and other support personnel. With remote instruction continuing across the system until next summer, some faculty members have expressed concern that hard-fought gains in closing achievement gaps may be undone.
In addition, significant shares of Cal State students face food and housing insecurity — a priority issue White sought to address during his tenure through his “basic needs initiative” and one expected to continue.
These issues will not be foreign to the incoming chancellor, who has led Cal State Fresno since 2013 after serving for 23 years in the University of California system, including in the office of the president, and as vice chancellor of student academic affairs and professor of family and community medicine at UC San Francisco, one of the nation’s top medical schools.
At Cal State Fresno, Castro, whose motto is “Be Bold,” earned a reputation as an able fundraiser, a listener and someone who was easy to work with. “He’s essentially a quiet, self-effacing person,” said Cal State Fresno academic senate chair Thomas Holyoke.
Cal State board chair Kimbell called Castro “unflappable.”
In 2018, when Cal State Fresno professor Randa Jarrar received widespread condemnation for tweeting disparaging remarks about former First Lady Barbara Bush, Castro defended Jarrar’s freedom of speech to funders and members of the community who thought she should be fired.
At one meeting “he was being heckled, and cursed. And he took it — he took it with grace,” Kimbell recalled.
Hisham Qutob, executive vice president of the Associated Students at Cal State Fresno, said Castro’s accessibility to students was a hallmark of his presidency. “He doesn’t leave any questions unanswered, he replies to all his emails himself, also on Twitter,” Qutob said.
Qutob, a business major from Fresno who will graduate in May, said Castro’s legacy will also be rooted in the partnerships he forged between Cal State Fresno and the surrounding community, which reinforced the importance of students giving back to the Central Valley.
In 2019-20, Cal State Fresno raised $32.9 million in private donations, an increase of 19% in overall giving from the previous year and the second-highest total in the university’s history of private support, according to campus officials.
Castro also kept his sights on “increasing student graduation rates, fighting for funding, and ensuring access for students who are often not talked about or championed,” said Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity.
She said Castro had expressed “huge frustration” at having to turn away qualified students.
“When a student from Madera County or Hanford gets into Fresno State, that’s life-changing — and if they don’t, that’s life-changing, too, in a negative way. He gets that,” Siqueiros said.
Together with his wife Mary, who has been actively involved in the university, Castro was a leader within the Cal State system in creating food pantry and clothing closet programs for students, relying mainly on community donations.
Cal State Fresno launched “DISCOVER-e,” a program that provides students with loaner tablets and integrates mobile technology into the classroom. That helped the university respond quickly when the pandemic hit, Qutob said.