Apr 03 2008

Californians back "green" fees for gas hogs - poll

Californians will back a variety of fees for drivers of gas-guzzling vehicles and rebates for less-polluting cars, according to a poll issued by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University.

"The public is very supportive of these green taxes and fees," research associate Asha Weinstein Agrawal, told the San Francisco Chronicle today. "This shows that it is realistic to improve the way we collect transportation taxes in this state."

California's registration and licensing fees and gasoline taxes do not reflect emissions levels from cars and trucks. But the phone poll of 1,500 Californians found support for green taxes and fees - charges that rise and fall with the amount of pollution a vehicle emits, the paper said. Sixty-three percent backed doubling the registration fee from the average $31 and charging higher rates for polluting vehicles and lower rates for clean ones.

Sixty-five percent supported a tax and rebate system to reward drivers of clean cars and tax high-emission cars, and 50 percent backed a mileage fee that set a higher rate per vehicle for gas hogs. There are two bills in the state Legislature that would allow regional transportation agencies to impose "greenhouse gas mitigation fees."

The survey results reflect growing public support for new measures to help develop a cleaner environment.Here at PG&E, we are looking at possibilities involving the intersection of the energy and transportation sectors. We've partnered with Tesla Motors to research remote-control charging of electric vehicles connected to the power grid, and demonstrated innovative technologies to make electric vehicles suppliers of power to homes and businesses.

In addition to our plug-in electric hybrid vehicles and dedicated electric vehicles, we own and operate a clean fleet of fuel cell vehicles and more than 1,300 natural gas vehicles - the largest of its kind in the nation. Over the last 15 years, the fleet has displaced more than 3.4 million gallons of gasoline and diesel and helped to avoid more than 6,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. 

Posted by: Leonard Anderson | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

Categories

Energy , Environment , Legislation , Partners

Leave a comment


E-mail this post


Your Name:
Your Friend's Email:

Subscribe to Blog rssIcon

> Go

Recent Comments

  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
    > view entry


  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
    > view entry


  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
    > view entry


Recent Posts