California oil hub Kern County working with Biden energy agency on transition to green industry
Kern County in the heart of California’s oil country is working with the Biden administration on a plan that could lead to a clean energy business park.
Local leaders are hoping that, with the help of the United States Department of Energy, they can devise plans that ease the region’s shift from relying on fossil fuels jobs to clean energy ones.
“We need to support our oil industry partners who own these assets, invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our community, and help them figure out what the future looks like,” Lorelei Oviatt, the director of community development for Kern County Planning and Natural Resources, said in an interview with The Fresno Bee on Monday.
Kern County is consulting with U.S. Department of Energy experts on the possibility of building a clean energy and carbon-management business park where it could capture and store carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. It would be on land that is already fallowed or disturbed by oil fields. And it would be solar powered, Oviatt said — another industry that, along with wind power, Kern County has made a $50 billion investment in over the past 15 years.
“That could produce 10,000 construction jobs and 4,000 permanent jobs. That could transform not only our economy, but this concept could be used other San Joaquin Valley counties,” Oviatt said of the carbon capture-and-storage hub.
She said that the project comes as Kern County grapples with economic complications from severe drought accelerated by climate issues and balances California groundwater management laws.
“One important thing about the agricultural economy and Kern, it was something we looked at in the applications, it’s been very impacted by climate change,” said Kate Gordon, a senior adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy. “Increasing drought conditions in that part of the state are obviously having a significant impact on the agricultural economy which needs to become much more efficient and lower water use, and much more decarbonized as a result.”
Biden program focuses on oil communities
Bakersfield is working on a separate decarbonization plan with the U.S. Department of Energy. Both projects are part of a new federal program in which energy experts consult with communities that have typically relied on the fossil fuel industry.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Local Energy Action Program, or Communities LEAP, is one of several green initiatives touted by Biden administration. President Joe Biden has often looked to California for climate-related policy; the administration recently reauthorized the state’s authority to set tailpipe emissions standards that are stricter than federal ones.
California has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2045 as set under legislation signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018. Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the state’s air pollution regulator to see if California could bump up that timeline.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, who represents Kern County, has been at odds with Biden and Newsom over their climate-related policies. He has called for more oil production in the U.S. and said Democrats have hiked up gas prices.
Sonya Christian — chancellor of the Kern Community College District and president of Bakersfield College, which is partnering on both Kern County and the city’s projects — said part of the plan aims to teach local workers how to hold green energy jobs.
The community college is working on an $8 million project on capturing carbon dioxide in canisters, for example, she said.
“We need to have those mini-demonstration projects that are educationally oriented for our students as well as for the larger community because many of our environmental justice groups in disadvantaged communities need to understand what the impact is going to be on the environment,” Christian said of these climate-related solutions.
Clean energy in Bakersfield
Similar to Kern County’s park, Bakersfield is hoping to create technology hubs where energy and advanced-manufacturing industry leaders could experiment on new projects, said Christian Clegg, Bakersfield’s city manager.
The goal is to develop a decarbonization plan, specifically for livestock and crop operations, and help low-income communities employed in agriculture. About 20% of jobs in Kern County are based in agriculture, according to the city’s proposal.
“We’re also creating those living-wage jobs that are not only benefiting the community, disadvantaged communities, with reductions to greenhouse gas emissions and other things, but also creating living-wage jobs for members from those communities,” Clegg said.
Kern County and Bakersfield are two out of the 22 locales in Communities LEAP, a $16 million program launched this fall. Richmond and San Jose are also participating from California. To qualify, local leaders from areas that have typically relied on the fossil fuel industry had to submit a roadmap and a list of participating stakeholders who are helping in their shift to green alternatives.
Christian of Bakersfield College said she hopes that the U.S. Department of Energy project helps usher in the image that Kern County is ready to champion green energy.
“We are telling our governor here, the state government, that if you’re thinking of investing in any new pilot projects, think of Kern, think of Bakersfield,” she said.
