Today, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego), urged the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to protect Californians against the looming threat posed by wildfire smoke.
In a letter to CARB Chair Lauren Sanchez, Jones cited a newly released Stanford University study that estimates the United States will experience roughly 30,000 additional deaths annually by 2050 as a direct result of wildfire smoke. The board currently does not include wildfire smoke in its scoping plan used to guide state investments and air pollution control programs
“Californians are literally choking on the failed policies of the Air Board and if they don’t get serious, we’ll soon see the death toll steadily climb,” said Jones. “To ignore wildfire smoke because it’s inconvenient to the Democrat grand plan to force us into electric vehicles and confiscate our gas stoves is unconscionable in light of this new study.”
Leader Jones’ letter comes after years of Republican-led efforts to force CARB to include wildfire smoke in their greenhouse gas inventory assessments and the scoping plan. Democrat lawmakers killed those measures while at the same time supporting efforts at CARB to ban gas-powered cars, outlaw gas leaf blowers, prohibit the use of gas stoves in private homes and regulate the charbroiling of hamburgers.
“The board’s sole purpose and charge is to keep Californians safe from harmful air pollution, not to serve as an instrument of social engineering or force us to use the products they deem righteous,” said Jones. “We’ll all die of wildfire smoke inhalation while cooking on our electric burners if the board doesn’t heed our call to take this threat seriously and get its priorities straight.”
The board is required to update its scoping plan every five years. They are currently in the process of formulating the next plan, which is expected to be released sometime in 2027.