Dear CalMatters reader,

I’m CalMatters reporter Deborah Brennan. Every Thursday I’ll share news about interesting people and places in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

If Assemblymember Corey Jackson has his way, Riverside County will help speed up electric vehicle manufacturing in California.

The Moreno Valley Democrat’s bill to create an EV opportunity zone in the county passed the legislature this week, but must still cross the governor’s desk.

The opportunity zone would fund training for car mechanics, electricians, welders and engineers, who would build electric cars and their infrastructure. It would extend more internships and apprenticeships to students and offer incentives to attract EV manufacturers to Riverside County. 

“We’re trying to mimic what California did for Tesla, to get other people in the game,” Jackson said. “And to make sure those resources are centered in lower income and middle class communities, not just Silicon Valley or large urban areas.”

While those communities could reap economic benefits, they would also face greater risks of chemical fires and toxic pollution from lithium battery failures, warned state Sen. Shannon Grove, the only senator who spoke in opposition. The Bakersfield Republican pointed to a weeks-long fire that consumed a battery storage facility in Otay Mesa, forcing the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate.

“Where we put these facilities needs to be safe and make sure our communities are protected from these horrific, catastrophic impacts,” Grove said.

Precise boundaries of the opportunity zone aren’t set, but Jackson said it would likely fall in Moreno Valley, home to Karma Automotive, which already produces luxury electric vehicles.

At up to $500,000 per car, Karma’s vehicles don’t fit most families’ budgets, but they can help pioneer technology for use in lower priced electric cars, Karma President Marques McCammon said.

It may take at least $4.5 million to start the program and $1.2 million a year to run it, a bill analysis says. That could make it tricky to pass amid the state’s $47 billion budget deficit. 

But Newsom has championed zero emission vehicles as a centerpiece of his climate action policy and California has set a goal of transitioning all new vehicles to zero emissions by 2035. 

Electric car sales reached record levels last year, but the pace of growth slowed from the prior year, CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo reported. California leads the country in car sales, so EV progress is important to combating climate change. 

Riverside County, with its ceaseless commuter and freight traffic, is key to that effort, Jackson said:  “If we are not buying and transitioning to electric vehicles, then the state as a whole won’t.”

State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, a Republican from Yucaipa, is defending her seat in newly redrawn Senate District 19 — which includes the San Gorgonio Pass, the High Desert, Coachella Valley, Loma Linda and Redlands — from Palm Springs City Councilmember Lisa Middleton, a Democrat.

And fellow Palm Springs Councilmember Christy Holstege is gunning for Republican Assemblymember Greg Wallis’ seat in the 47th District, which includes parts of Redlands and San Jacinto, the San Gorgonio Pass, High Desert and Coachella Valley. The two Democrats could swing the party further to the progressive side and expand its LGBTQ representation: I wrote that Middleton would be the first transgender legislator in California if she wins, and Holstege identifies as bisexual.

The U.S. Forest Service ordered BlueTriton Brands, the company that bottles Arrowhead water, to stop drawing from springs in the San Bernardino Mountains. The decision marks a victory for Save Our Forests Association, which sued arguing Blue Triton was drying up the stream, harming threatened and endangered species and their habitat. 

But local officials countered that shutting down the bottling operation would also deprive the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians of millions of gallons of water used to fight fires in foothill communities near the historic Arrowhead Springs Hotel.

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