Banning new gas stations

 

(Source)

In the north San Francisco Bay Area, the city of Petaluma has banned any future gas stations above the 16 the city already has. I've been there several times, it's a small-to-medium size city that's normally easy to drive around (rush hour might be different), and another article I read says everyone's within a 5-minute drive of an existing gas station. In the short-to-medium term, this is a mostly symbolic effort.

I'm very glad to see it, anyway. Symbolism has value - it's an indication of political strength in local efforts to combat climate change, which can then do other things. The link says they tried it before in 2014 and didn't get it passed, and this time it passed unanimously, so hopefully it's an indicator of more to come.

And it may have some immediate effect - some potential car buyers in Petaluma (or other cities that follow them) may have this in mind when deciding between EVs or ICE vehicles, and tip them to the former. FWIW, if you need to fuel up during rush hour even now, it's going to be a pain in the neck. Five years from now, when three or four of those 16 stations have closed while EV charging is more ubiquitous, the convenience balance between EVs and ICE will get better for the environment. Same thing can happen in other cities.

I have a longstanding interest in the EV/ICE convenience balance being more than EVs becoming more convenient, but also about a degradation and then breakdown of ICE infrastructure convenience. I think it's a partially self-fulfilling process, but steps like this one could be a regulatory accelerator of that process.

The other political advantage it has is greed - gas station owners are likely to say "why not limit competition?" Chains might be a different matter, but at least some owners are unlikely to fight.