California
This part of California has the fastest sea level rise on the West Coast. Here’s what’s at stake
ARCATA, Humboldt County — Anchored by the cities of Eureka and Arcata and recognized for its redwood forests, hashish tourism and funky, misty seashores, Humboldt Bay additionally has an unwelcome distinction: It has the quickest fee of sea stage rise on the West Coast.
Tectonic exercise is inflicting the realm across the bay roughly 300 miles north of San Francisco to sink, which provides it a fee of sea stage rise that’s about twice the state common. In comparison with 2000, the ocean within the space is anticipated to rise 1 foot by 2030, 2.3 ft by 2050 and three.1 ft by 2060, in line with California Ocean Safety Council.
Residential areas, wastewater remedy crops and a phase of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata are all in danger — particularly when the frequent and intense storms related to local weather change set off extra flooding. There are even long-term worries a few nuclear waste storage facility on the bluffs. But the area additionally has turn out to be a check case for adapt to an issue that faces all of coastal California, together with by restoring wetlands that had been stuffed in for logging and farming in earlier eras.
“We are saying the bay goes to take again from us what we borrowed for the final hundred years or so,” stated Jennifer Kalt, director of the nonprofit group Humboldt Baykeeper and a member of the Cal Poly Humboldt Sea Stage Rise Institute.
Residents get a preview of what’s in retailer throughout king tides, when highways and boat ramps are inundated and sloughs turn out to be bloated swimming pools. Throughout a king tide final 12 months, a historic redwood barn on the Eel River Estuary south of the bay was photographed being battered by waves that reached it after years of subsidence and erosion within the surrounding farmland.
Metropolis, county and state officers, working with scientists at California State Polytechnic College Humboldt in Arcata, have created a number of stories and research on how finest to handle the issue, which is brought about because the arctic ice sheet and glaciers soften and as seawater expands because it rises in temperature. Nevertheless it’s additionally arduous to prioritize motion on a problem that is because of have its worst affect a long time from now.
“Though sluggish, sea stage rise have to be deliberate for and mitigation efforts developed now to guard communities and infrastructure,” learn a Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury investigation launched in Could that cited threats to 30 electrical transmission towers, 9.6 miles of municipal water transmission traces, 52 cultural websites of the Wiyot tribe, contaminated former pulp mills and the entry street to the city of King Salmon. “Sea stage rise planning must be a precedence amongst all elected officers within the county.”
The gold commonplace for responding to the risk is what is called managed retreat, or shifting infrastructure out of hurt’s method — however that can also be the costliest and disruptive strategy, stated Joel Gerwein, North Coast deputy regional supervisor at California Coastal Conservancy, which funds restoration initiatives.
Caltrans could find yourself having to take action with a freeway it has already begun upgrading: a 6-mile phase of Freeway 101 that hugs the sting of the bay between Eureka and Arcata and is because of be flooded repeatedly by 2030.
“Probably throughout a king tide occasion, we might have the water going over the freeway, after which that may shut down the freeway,” stated Clancy De Smet, Caltrans local weather change adaptation department chief for the area.
An adaption plan due from Caltrans in 2025 might contain shifting a part of the freeway inland. De Smet stated that a number of the new bridges had been engineered in order that they might be pulled out and transported if essential.
The southern finish of the bay has the most important subsidence drawback. That’s due to geologic exercise about 30 miles away: three tectonic plates converge, one in all which is sliding beneath one other. The harbor village of King Salmon, constructed on landfill within the mid-Twentieth century, is situated right here.
King Salmon is one in all a number of areas within the bay which were designated as weak to flooding throughout 100-year-storms, calamitous occasions that used to have solely a 1% probability of occurring annually however have turn out to be extra frequent with local weather change.
King Salmon’s location additionally places it liable to tsunami. Its tsunami evacuation route is a footpath that occurs to guide from bay to a great vantage level for the PG&E energy plant, the place 37 tons of spent nuclear gasoline from a decommissioned nuclear energy plant is saved in a concrete bunker.
Entrance to the tsunami evacuation path in King Salmon, Calif. on Sep 19, 2022. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Finish of the tsunami evacuation path in King Salmon, Calif. on Sep 19, 2022. Past the signal is the Humboldt Bay Unbiased Spent Gasoline Storage Set up (ISFSI). The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Prime of story: King Salmon, Calif. is one in all a number of areas alongside Humboldt Bay which were designated as weak to flooding throughout 100-year-storms.
Above: Indicators on the entrance and finish of the tsunami evacuation path in King Salmon.
Images by Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
The Humboldt Bay Unbiased Spent Gasoline Storage Set up in King Salmon. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Although specialists say the location is probably going secure for many years, the nuclear storage space is located on a hill that could be very near the eroding shoreline. The erosion worsened after jetties, first constructed within the Eighteen Nineties, helped form the doorway to the bay, channeling wave exercise towards the shore.
“When it was constructed, sea stage rise was not as nicely understood as it’s now,” stated Kalt, who can also be a lecturer at Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata. The California Coastal Fee additionally desires the federal authorities to maneuver the waste, citing pure hazards.
Carina Corral, a spokeswoman for PG&E, which runs the location the place the utility as soon as operated decommissioned nuclear plant, stated that the location is repeatedly inspected and was constructed “stand up to the consequences of environmental situations and excessive occasions.” She famous that PG&E is ready for the federal government to comply with by on its dedication to construct a long-term nationwide storage facility, which might permit it to maneuver the gasoline.
Jennifer Kalt, the director of Humboldt Baykeeper, exterior of the previous Sierra Pacific industries mill in Arcata. The mill is one in all dozens that one stood round Humboldt Bay and plenty of have left contaminated soil and groundwater that might mobilize as soon as sea stage rises.
The Nuclear Regulatory Fee stated in an announcement that it takes applicable motion to guard security when new info involves gentle, and the location meets present necessities.
One other concern for Kalt are the handfuls of former lumber and pulp mills that when stood across the bay throughout its logging heyday, which doubtless left contaminants within the soil that might emerge as soon as each the ocean stage and groundwater rise. Kalt and her colleagues are engaged on a database to see which of the websites are most weak.
So as to add to its worries, Humboldt County additionally has the very best fee of coastal cliff erosion in California in line with a current examine, although not at Humboldt Bay; one of many worst stretches is at Centerville Seashore to the south.
A barn on Centerville Seashore has been battered and partially buried by the waves and the king tides in Ferndale (Humboldt County).
As the ocean rises, one other technique to put together that’s inexpensive than shifting highways or different types of managed retreat are initiatives that restore a number of the shoreline’s unique options like wetlands and native dunes. However these initiatives, typically known as nature-based options, are thought-about interim options, in line with Gerwein.
Sea thrift on the Lanphere Dunes in Arcata, Calif. on Friday, Sep 16, 2022. For practically 40 years, Andrea Pickart of US Fish and Wildlife Service has labored to revive native crops to the dunes within the Manila space of Humboldt Bay. Her work is being rewarded after a current examine reveals that native crops can do a greater job making dunes resilient to sea stage rise than invasive ones. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Seaside daisy on the Lanphere Dunes in Arcata, Calif. on Friday, Sep 16, 2022. For practically 40 years, Andrea Pickart of US Fish and Wildlife Service has labored to revive native crops to the dunes within the Manila space of Humboldt Bay. Her work is being rewarded after a current examine reveals that native crops can do a greater job making dunes resilient to sea stage rise than invasive ones. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Seaside buckwheat on the Lanphere Dunes in Arcata, Calif. on Friday, Sep 16, 2022. For practically 40 years, Andrea Pickart of US Fish and Wildlife Service has labored to revive native crops to the dunes within the Manila space of Humboldt Bay. Her work is being rewarded after a current examine reveals that native crops can do a greater job making dunes resilient to sea stage rise than invasive ones. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Seaside bluegrass on the Lanphere Dunes in Arcata, Calif. on Friday, Sep 16, 2022. For practically 40 years, Andrea Pickart of US Fish and Wildlife Service has labored to revive native crops to the dunes within the Manila space of Humboldt Bay. Her work is being rewarded after a current examine reveals that native crops can do a greater job making dunes resilient to sea stage rise than invasive ones. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Sea thrift, seaside daisy, seaside buckwheat and seaside bluegrass on the Lanphere Dunes in Arcata, Calif. In keeping with a current examine, native crops are simpler in shoring up dunes than seaside grass. Images by Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Andrea Pickart, an ecologist at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been working for near 40 years to revive native crops at Lanphere Dunes, which create a barrier on a strip of land that separates the northern a part of the bay from the ocean. The method includes eradicating invasive European seaside grass, which covers a lot of the coast with a sage inexperienced monochrome of pointy leaves, with native species like yellow sand verbena, goldenrod and seaside strawberry.
Utilizing a strolling follow march over the sand, her mountain climbing footwear dislodging rusty pollen from flowering seaside buckwheat, Pickart defined that these delicate crops are simpler in shoring up dunes than seaside grass. In keeping with a examine she coauthored in July, native dunes had been discovered to get better extra rapidly after storms as a result of they allowed sand from the ocean emigrate inland. In the meantime, the nonnative dunes shaped steep slopes that remained static, making them much less resilient to storms and rising seas.
Andrea Pickart of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service walks the Lanphere Dunes in Arcata (Humboldt County). For practically 40 years, Pickart has labored to revive native crops to the dunes within the Manila space of Humboldt Bay.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
“It reveals we will use restoration as a method of adapting to local weather change,” she stated, including: “It will increase the biodiversity and ecological worth of the location on the similar time.”
Contained in the bay, wetlands restoration is a extra frequent technique. Ninety % of wetlands within the space had been stuffed in over a century in the past by European settlers. Land that was diked for farming tends to sink under sea stage, making it much more weak to flooding — particularly when it’s been grazed by cattle, whose heavy footsteps assist press the spongy earth down.
In Eureka, former pastureland is being remodeled for the Elk River Estuary Enhancement Undertaking, the place excavators are digging a channel that may snake south from the Elk River and restore 114 acres again into tidal marshland.
View of the Elk River restoration mission in Eureka, Calif. on Sep 19, 2022. An excavator creates a berm subsequent to the freeway. This part of the mission is changing pastureland right into a salt marsh and intertidal channel community that may hook up with the Elk River, reclaiming historic floodplain and offering capability for king tides and resilience to sea stage rise. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
View of the Elk River restoration mission in Eureka, Calif. on Sep 19, 2022. This part of the mission is changing pastureland right into a salt marsh and intertidal channel community that may hook up with the Elk River, reclaiming historic floodplain and offering capability for king tides and resilience to sea stage rise. Within the background, the Humboldt Bay Producing Station is seen. The ocean stage is anticipated to rise 3 ft by 2060 in Humboldt Bay, the quickest fee on the West Coast. Worsened by tectonic exercise, sea stage rise threatens residences, saved waste from a decommissioned nuclear plant, wastewater remedy crops, and a part of Freeway 101 that connects Eureka and Arcata.
Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
An excavator, high, creates a berm on the Elk River Elk River restoration mission, above, in Eureka, Calif. Images by Alexandra Hootnick / Particular to The Chronicle
Amongst different advantages, the $6 million mission will defend a bit of close by Freeway 101 from flooding because it offers room for floodwaters from each the river and the ocean to go throughout storms — which the wetlands did naturally earlier than they had been stuffed in.
“It’s a very wonderful quantity of actual property to have the ability to deliver again into the pure panorama,” stated Katie Marsolan, the mission supervisor. “We’re attempting to make up for misplaced time.”
Simply south of the mission, the Wiyot tribe plans to do the identical because it restores an ecologically and culturally important space known as Mouralherwaqh, the place it lately bought a 46-acre parcel with $1.2 million grant from the state Ocean Safety Council.
“Habitat conservation is a nature-based answer to sea stage rise that may additionally present alternatives for environmental justice and indigenous land return,” stated the tribe’s pure assets director Adam Canter, who can also be co-chair of the Cal Poly Humboldt Sea Stage Rise Institute.
On a current tour, Canter tore down thick strands of invasive English ivy from native Sitka spruce leftover from when the land was used for logging.
The property has massive freshwater wetlands that Canter describes as trying like two lungs on a map, which he stated will ultimately be inundated as the ocean rises. Although it sounds harmful, that may permit saltwater habitat emigrate inland in an space that’s in any other case developed and supply habitat for wildlife in search of refuge from local weather change, he stated.
Natalie Arroyo, a Eureka Metropolis Council Member who will begin a time period on the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors in January, stated that native governments are nicely conscious of the problem of sea stage rise however typically don’t have funding for main enhancements.
“We acknowledge that these infrastructure adjustments are wanted, however they’re, 5, ten, 20 years away, and we’re coping with this 12 months’s price range,” she stated.
For instance, some folks have known as for shifting the Eureka wastewater remedy facility away from its bayside location, which makes it weak to sea stage rise.
Arroyo is extra involved about underground wastewater and ingesting water traces which might be in want of upgrades however typically can’t be prioritized as a result of there’s a damaged sewer most important that must be mounted instantly.
“The issue with local weather change preparedness, typically talking, is that native governments have restricted assets,” she stated. “We’ll want a stage of funding that as a small coastal metropolis we don’t at present have.”
Chronicle knowledge reporter Yoohyun Jung contributed to this story.
Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle employees author. Electronic mail: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
Spear Invest founder and Chief Investment Officer Ivana Delevska discusses the value of A.I. data centers and the future of driverless cars on ‘Making Money.’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom may exclude Tesla and other automakers from an electric vehicle (EV) rebate program if the incoming Trump administration scraps a federal tax credit for electric car purchases.
Newsom proposed creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which was phased out in 2023 after funding more than 594,000 vehicles and saving more than 456 million gallons of fuel, the governor’s office said in a news release on Monday.
“Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future – we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute.”
The proposed rebates would be funded with money from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is funded by polluters under the state’s cap-and-trade program, the governor’s office said. Officials did not say how much the program would cost or save consumers.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday proposed creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program if the incoming Trump administration scraps a federal tax credit for electric car purchases. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, File / Getty Images)
They would also include changes to promote innovation and competition in the zero-emission vehicles market – changes that could prevent automakers like Tesla from qualifying for the rebates.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who relocated Tesla’s corporate headquarters from California to Texas in 2021, responded to the possibility of having Tesla EVs left out of the program.
Tesla and other automakers may not qualify for the proposed tax credits, according to the governor’s office. (Getty Images, File / Getty Images)
“Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane,” Musk wrote on X, which he also owns.
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Those buying or leasing Tesla vehicles accounted for about 42% of the state’s rebates, The Associated Press reported, citing data from the California Air Resources Board.
Newsom’s office told Fox Business Digital that the proposal is intended to foster market competition, and any potential market cap is subject to negotiation with the state Legislature.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 338.59 | -13.97 | -3.96% |
“Under a potential market cap, and depending on what the cap is, there’s a possibility that Tesla and other automakers could be excluded,” the governor’s office said. “But that’s again subject to negotiations with the legislature.”
Newsom’s office noted that such market caps have been part of rebate programs since George W. Bush’s administration in 2005.
Newsom has pushed Californians to replace gas-powered vehicles with zero-emission vehicles. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Federal tax credits for EVs are currently worth up to $7,500 for new zero-emission vehicles. President-elect Trump has previously vowed to end the credit.
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California has surpassed 2 million zero-emission vehicles sold, according to the governor’s office. The state, however, could face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, Reuters reported, citing a non-partisan legislative estimate released last week.
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Along with most other Democratic politicians in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom still doesn’t seem to understand what happened in the 2024 election.
For years, Newsom, along with California cronies like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, of course, Vice President Kamala Harris, bragged about their state being a “model for the nation.”
In one sense–not the one they intended, of course–that’s true. California became a model of what not to do.
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The terrible combination of elitism and extremism that has defined Democratic policymaking in my home state for at least the last decade has delivered failure on every front.
Despite having the highest taxes in the nation, despite the state’s budget nearly doubling in the last ten years (even as our population has been falling, in the exodus from blue state misrule), California has the highest rate of poverty in America. We have the highest housing costs, the lowest homeownership, highest gas and utility bills, and the worst business climate–ten years in a row.
This record of failure is exactly why Democrats lost so badly on November 5th. Voters had a clear choice: between more of the same Democrat policies that raised the cost of living and lowered their quality of life, or a return to the peace and prosperity of the Trump years.
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In many ways, the contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris represented a battle between the ‘blue state model’ championed by Gavin Newsom in California, and the ‘red state model’ that has driven people and businesses out of California and into the arms of more welcoming states like Texas, Tennessee and Florida.
Of course, the red state model won and the blue state model was roundly rejected.
You would think that would make blue state leaders like Newsom pause and reflect. But the exact opposite has happened. Gavin Newsom immediately called a “special session” of the California legislature to “Trump-proof” his state.
What California really needs is “Newsom-proofing.”
Instead, California Democrats are doubling down on the exact same agenda that was defeated across the country – including in California, which saw the biggest shift from Democrats to the GOP in decades.
Here are the five things California Democrats still don’t get:
1. People want results, not lectures
Democrats and their media sycophants can do all the self-righteous, sanctimonious bloviating they like about “our democracy” and “equity”, but in the end people want the basics of the American Dream: a good job that pays enough to raise your family in a home of your own in a safe neighborhood with a good school so your kids can have a better life than you. No amount of moral superiority from the people in charge will make up for that if they fail to provide it.
2. Enough with the ‘climate’ extremism
“Climate” has become a religion for Democrats, and you see that especially clearly in California. But when you look at the main reason life is so unaffordable for working people, whether that’s gas prices, utility bills or housing costs, extreme climate policies are to blame. Working-class Americans can’t afford these ‘luxury beliefs.’
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3. Who cares about Hollywood?
This election destroyed forever the myth that fancy celebrities can sway votes. Oprah, Beyonce, George Clooney, Taylor Swift…nobody cares! The new cultural powerhouses are the podcast hosts, comedians…the raw power of UFC is where it’s at, not the decadent Hollywood elite who won’t even turn up to support “their” candidate without a multimillion dollar paycheck.
Producer and actress Oprah Winfrey holds up Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ hand as she arrives onstage during a campaign rally on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 4, 2024. (Getty Images)
4. ‘Little tech’ beats Big Tech
Democrats may console themselves with the knowledge that California’s Big Tech monopolies are on their side. But in this election we saw the rise of what famed Silicon Valley investor Marc Andressen calls “little tech”, the upstarts and rebels who reject leftist groupthink. They got engaged in this election in a way we’ve never seen before. It’s a massive shift and will be a huge force for the future.
5. Working class beats the elite
Back in 2016, after the Brexit vote, and then Donald Trump’s victory here, shocked the world, I predicted that the Republican Party had the opportunity to become a “multiracial working class coalition.” Trump’s 2024 victory has delivered that — a revolutionary shift in our political landscape. The other part of my prediction? Democrats will be left as the party of the “rich, white and woke.”
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Unless Democrats come to terms with these realities and change course, they can expect to lose elections for years to come. The reaction in California – epicenter of today’s Democrat elite — shows that there is zero sign of this happening.
They just don’t get it.
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- Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to revive California’s EV rebate if Trump ends the federal tax credit.
- But Tesla, the largest maker of EVs, would be excluded under the proposal.
- Elon Musk criticized Tesla’s potential exclusion from the rebate.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is preparing to step in if President-elect Donald Trump fulfills his promise to axe the federal electric-vehicle tax credit — but one notable EV maker could be left out.
Newsom said Monday if the $7,500 federal tax credit is eliminated he would restart the state’s zero-emission vehicle rebate program, which was phased out in 2023.
“We will intervene if the Trump Administration eliminates the federal tax credit, doubling down on our commitment to clean air and green jobs in California,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future — we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute.”
The rebates for EV buyers would come from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is funded by polluters of greenhouse gases under a cap-and-trade program, according to the governor’s office.
But Tesla’s vehicles could be excluded under the proposal’s market-share limitations, Bloomberg News first reported.
The governor’s office confirmed to Business Insider that the rebate program could include a market-share cap which could in turn exclude Tesla or other EV makers. The office did not share details about what market-share limit could be proposed and also noted the proposal would be subject to negotiations in the state legislature.
A market-share cap would exclude companies whose sales account for a certain amount of total electric vehicle sales. For instance, Tesla accounted for nearly 55% off all new electric vehicles registered in California in the first three quarters of 2024, according to a report from the California New Car Dealers Association. By comparison, the companies with the next highest EV market share in California were Hyundai and BMW with 5.6% and 5% respectively.
Tesla sales in California, the US’s largest EV market, have recently declined even as overall EV sales in the state have grown. Though the company still accounted for a majority of EV sales in California this year as of September, its market share fell year-over-year from 64% to 55%.
The governor’s office said the market-share cap would be aimed at promoting competition and innovation in the industry.
Elon Musk, who has expressed support for ending the federal tax credit, said in an X post it was “insane” for the California proposal exclude Tesla.
The federal electric vehicle tax credit, which was passed as part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, provides a $7,500 tax credit to some EV buyers.
Musk, who is working closely with the incoming Trump administration, has expressed support for ending the tax credit. He’s set to co-lead an advisory commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is aimed at slashing federal spending.
The Tesla CEO said on an earnings call in July that ending the federal tax credit might actually benefit the company.
“I think it would be devastating for our competitors and for Tesla slightly,” Musk said. “But long-term probably actually helps Tesla, would be my guess.”
BI’s Graham Rapier previously reported that ending the tax credit could help Tesla maintain its strong standing in the EV market by slowing its competitors growth.
Prior to the EV rebate proposal, Newsom has already positioned himself as a foil to the incoming Trump administration. Following Trump’s election win the governor called on California lawmakers to convene for a special session to discuss protecting the state from Trump’s second term.
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom said in a statement at the time.
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