Kevin Kiley

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Mr. Speaker, I am supporting this resolution today for a simple reason, and that is that it will stop gas prices from getting even higher in California. We simply can't afford it. Prices are approaching $6 on average statewide, far more than any other State. We have the highest cost of living in the country, and Californians cannot afford more to be piled on. Now, I believe that air quality is vitally important at our docks, and I take no issue at all with California's longstanding program of 20 years that requires container ships, passenger ships, and reefer ships to plug in rather than have their engines idle when they are docked. Indeed, with this newest rule, I would not be supporting this resolution if the rule only concerned the roll-on/roll-off vessels, because there are workable solutions there for plugging in when they dock, but CARB overreached. The California Air Resources Board overreached. For the first time, they decided to apply this rule to tanker boilers. The problem is the technology for them just isn't there yet, so virtually none of them are going to be able to comply. What does that mean? It means, number one, there is not going to be any improvement in air quality. But, number two, for every hour that they are docked, they are going to be racking up thousands of dollars in fines, which could accumulate to literally billions of dollars, which, of course, will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for gasoline. Mr. Speaker, I have made a promise to my constituents to be a check on both Sacramento and Washington when they overreach. In this instance, Sacramento has overreached, and we have the ability to push back and to protect affordability in our State. But, in the same vein, if California wants to come up with a workable rule that applies to vessels that have the requisite technology, then I would oppose any effort here in Washington to interfere with that. You see, we can make our State more affordable while protecting our environment at the same time. All we need is a little common sense.