California's adversary has a face
With help from Blanca Begert, Annie Snider and Camille von Kaenel
NEW BOSS: We finally have a new boss at U.S. EPA's San Francisco office, just in time for the Trump administration's deregulation blitz.
The question now is whether there's an opening for California to soften the blow.
President Donald Trump named Josh F.W. Cook, a veteran California GOP staffer and consultant, to lead EPA's Region 9 today — handing him the reins of the office that oversees emissions policy, air and water quality, prescribed burns and more in an area encompassing California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and the United States' Pacific island territories.
Cook's environmental resume is squarely focused on the forestry space, where in the past he took the policy lead for lawmakers like Rep. Doug LaMalfa and former state senator and gubernatorial candidate Brian Dahle.
He said in a statement that he'd focus on 'the core competencies of clean water, land, and air' but also 'lead the way in reducing energy costs, creating wealth, and cementing America's position as a leader in agriculture, energy, manufacturing, AI technology, and transportation.'
The jury is still largely out on how Cook will handle the full swath of his duties — and interact with defensive Democrats — but early reviews from those who know him are positive.
'He's not an ideologue or climate denier, but he very much cares about impacts to small businesses and finding practical solutions,' said Martha Guzman, who served as Region 9 administrator under Biden. 'He's definitely someone that's going to care about the environment.'
Groups in the forestry space echoed that take.
'I don't find him to be an extreme ideologue,' said Paul Mason, vice president for policy and incentives at Pacific Forest Trust. 'He's thoughtful and he's grounded and wants to try and do good things, and we were able to collaborate on moving some sort of forest and fire stuff in the right direction.'
Mason said he already sees openings for collaboration with Cook on streamlining the federal Clean Air Act to make it easier for state and federal agencies to conduct prescribed burns and improve the state's fire mitigation efforts.
But there will undoubtedly be limits to how far the collaboration can go.
'He does have a boss,' Mason said. 'I'm sure there'll be other [policies] where there will be a greater difference between what the Trump administration wants and what some advocates here in California want. And that'll be a challenging spot for Josh.'
The spot is ever-widening. His bosses have made it clear they plan to take a hammer to blue states' policy agenda.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last week that he's reconsidering dozens of regulations on climate change, air quality, wastewater, chemicals and more established under former President Joe Biden.
That's on top of Zeldin's request for Congress to overturn three of California's waivers granting the state the authority to enforce stronger-than-federal car and truck electrification rules.
Whether or not Cook has a say in the direction Zeldin takes EPA, he will serve as a foil to California lawmakers and agency officials, who've pushed nation-leading policies to slash emissions, reduce dependence on fossil fuel and cut plastic use.
'We have had some decent [Republican administrators] in the past, but none with this kind of wrecking ball assignment,' said former California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols.
Mike Stoker, Region 9 administrator during Trump's first term, said the job is to enact regulatory changes that come from Washington, and not to set the region on a separate policy trajectory. But he said that doesn't mean circumventing proper regulatory processes or avoiding working closely with Democratic lawmakers and career EPA staff, who he said skew liberal politically.
'Unless California doesn't want to collaborate back, which I know they will, Josh will meet and talk,' Stoker said.
But as Stoker knows from experience, working across the aisle comes with risks. Stoker says he was ousted from the job in 2020 — just a few years after leading 'lock her up' chants at the Republican National Convention — for being too bipartisan. — AN
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SLOW CALIFORNIA'S ROLL: Industry groups are doubling down on their efforts to get California's vehicle emissions rules axed.
Over 100 oil and gas, trucking and agriculture organizations penned a letter today to Republican and Democratic leaders asking them to support using the Congressional Review Act to revoke EPA approval of rules that let California enforce stricter electric sales mandates for car and commercial trucks, along with higher efficiency standards for diesel engines.
'While we support reducing emissions in the transportation sector, forced electrification and unachievable standards are not the only way to accomplish this,' wrote the groups, including the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and American Trucking Association. — AN
MONEY POORLY SPENT: California utilities' energy efficiency programs are rarely cost-effective for ratepayers, according to a state audit out today.
The report also found that none of the major investor-owned utilities' efficiency program portfolios have met their energy-savings goals since 2019.
That's partly because the utilities (Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co.) are beginning to exhaust more straightforward energy-saving approaches, and partly because state standards are getting stronger. (Though the report also notes that the CPUC's metrics miss some of the programs' benefits.)
The report will likely serve as fodder for affordability-minded lawmakers like Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, who proposed a one-time $30 bill credit last year on the back of cuts to state programs for school HVAC systems and solar systems and said this year that she wants to target underperforming programs. — BB
TRUMP DUMP: A new bill by Assemblymember Diane Papan is pushing back on Trump's January water-dumping gambit.
AB 1146 would prohibit the release of stored water in California if made 'knowingly and designedly under any false or fraudulent representation or assumption as to the purpose and intended use of the water,' according to the bill text.
It's a direct hit on the Army Corps of Engineers' dumping of water meant for summer irrigation from two dams in the Central Valley in late January. Trump and the Army Corps tied the releases to the Los Angeles fires, even though the fires were already contained and the water couldn't have made it to Los Angeles anyway.
'California will not stand idly by while attempts are made to manipulate our water supply for political theater,' Papan said in a statement.
The bill would empower the State Water Resources Control Board to enforce the ban with orders. It would also make a violation punishable by fine or jail time. — CvK
TRADERS TAKE HEART: Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin added some new language to her cap-and-trade stub bill today — but it's still a placeholder for reauthorization language to come later, her office said.
The amendments, relating to the social cost of carbon, were meant to meet Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas' Monday deadline to fill out policy bills with substantive enough details so that they can be assigned to committees. — BB
— Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry wants to kill the U.S. Department of Education in exchange for LA wildfire relief funding.
— San Jose police arrested a man filmed keying a Tesla in a video that went viral. Said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan: 'Our residents can't be held accountable for something Elon Musk is doing 3,000 miles away.'
— BYD shares hit an all-time high after it unveiled a charger that can fill an EV in five minutes.
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