Senate Appropriations on Thursday effectively killed Senate Bill 709, which would have capped carbon credits and removed guarantees for dairy digesters. The committee did not share its reasoning, but several ag groups heavily opposed the measure.
Environmental justice groups had lobbied the committee ahead of the vote. They argued the Air Resources Board has been concealing information about the carbon intensity of biomethane and that this bill would promote transparency, reflecting last-minute amendments proposed by the author.
Assembly Appropriations, meanwhile, stalled Assembly Bill 1044 on drought and flood relief and AB 865 on holding imports to California’s standards.
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Yet the committee passed AB 865 on exempting wetlands and disadvantaged communities from the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Danny Merkley, a policy advocate at the Gualco Group representing winegrape growers and irrigation districts, argued the bill would unwind intense negotiations that led to the groundwater act and that it would hit ratepayers with higher costs.
On that note: The Department of Water Resources announced Thursday that it has completed its SGMA review process for high- and medium-priority basins. It signals that 98% of the state’s groundwater use is now actively managed by local agencies.
