Californians are tired of pollution and perceived wars over oil. Most of this particular issue is due to having a LARGE amount of people in one area
Just to address your points JTucholke, I have lived in CA all my 49-1/2 years of life. The worst part of CA, highest smog levels, is the Inland Empire area, due to the geography of the mountains all around that area. The off shore winds from the Pacific Ocean blow over LA and Orange counties, that was good for them but that smog ended up in the Inland Empire. So we got a triple whammy of pollution.
Back in the 60's and 70's the air in LA, Orange and IE, you could cut it with a knife, very brown sky's, could not see down the street, lungs and eyes would burn badly.
Nixon started the Federal Clean Air Standards in the mid 60's. In the mid 70's the refineries had to stop adding lead to the fuels. In the 70's CA went above and beyond the Federal standards, and demanded auto mfg's, factories, oil refiners to comply with much stricter standards. So that started the one state CA only cars, less power, less mpg, more money. CA also drove out soooo many businesses like plating shops, paint shops, steel industries, on and on for decades.
We used to have warning called the "Smog Alert", and it was rated stage1, stage2, stage3. A stage1 was very common unless the Santa Ana winds were blowing or it was raining. We would get a couple dozen stage2 alerts, which were very bad on the lungs. Even had a few stage3 alerts, they demanded to stay indoors. By the late 80's the after all the stringent measures, driving out business, people moving out of CA and going to NV, OR, WA the air was improving drastically. No more stage3 alerts, and only a few stage2 alerts, but still had stage1 alerts. Then I think it was the late 80's AQMD / CA / politicians lowered the bar on when to call a smog alert. So they ruled to lower number to start the alerts. So now a stage2 would be like a stage1 back in the early days. One might ask why would they do that, to justify their job security. There were very few smog alerts and they wanted to get them back into play. Well now into the 90's technologies were coming into play with autos, factories and the air just kept getting cleaner. So back in the 90's only stage1 alerts were the norm, and only a few. By the 00's, we do not get ANY smog alerts, NONE, air is just too clean. But you hear and read about the children, the old, suffering, crap. It is all coming from anti-pollution Nazi control freaks running CA. It is Big-Enviro and the puppets are the Dem's passing the laws in CA. You want to see and feel smog, take a trip to China or Mexico, not CA
There is a balance between wacko and reality, and that pendulum went full off the chart about a decade ago in CA. Now they are going after lawnmowers, fireplaces, and many other things to list.
OK, now to give my opinion on this subject, getting the lead out of gasoline was a good thing. Technologies caught up and gave us power with out the smog. I don't think getting the sulfur out of the diesel was a good thing overall because of the loss of fuel mileage. Just think about all that extra crude oil pumped and diesel used to have ULSD so we can clean up from a 95% standard to a 99% standard. The Ethanol fiasco is one big cluster$uck, using and growing corn to make a weak fuel to blend it to gasoline to further dilute it, much less MPG, more crude oil pumped, more fuel consumed.
Yes, CA had to get the air quality handled, but govt. is a racket, control is power, scare the people for votes, big money, big spending, and we are now Billions in debt, soon to file bankruptcy. More money wasted at the peoples expense.
This issue is my pet peeve because all of the misinformation because of greed, power, control, Socialism.
I had to vent.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
, dont kid yourself. Oregon is just as loaded with them as Wa. 
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