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Comment 50 for General Comments for the GHG Scoping Plan (sp-general-ws) - 1st Workshop.
First Name: Arthur
Last Name: Unger
Email Address: artunger@att.net
Affiliation:
Subject: Comments on many AB 32 implementation opportunities
Comment:
Here are my comments on CARB’s June 2008 Discussion Draft of the Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan to implement the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32). I applaud your goal of reducing annual Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050 despite the huge population increase that will occur in 2008 and in all years in the immediate future. For lazy folks like me, the study introduction might include: Total number of megawatts CA can generate under stress Sources of electricity Uses of electricity by industry in Megawatt hours, including pumping water Origin of emissions (figure 1, page 7, and slide 5 of 7/14/08 with a little more detail) Here is the part of what I probably said at the 7 14 08 workshop that I can not fit into the Roman numerals and numbers used in the Discussion Draft: Thank you for holding this hearing next to the Amtrak station. As we learn to travel without single or limited occupancy vehicles, more and more public events need to be held near public transit. Moving offices from an inner city neighborhood out to the land of the car, as the SJVAPCD did several years ago, was as error. Inner city neighborhoods and their transit must be made so safe that no one seeks security in a private vehicle. Multi family homes emit less per person than free standing single person or single family homes. Public vest pocket parks, playgrounds and community gardens make such housing desirable. The rest of my comments refer to the Roman numerals and numbers used in the Discussion Draft. I B, table 1 Recycling and waste: Please compare GHG produced by optimally nourishing a given plant with synthetic balanced fertilizer to the emissions accomplishing the same goal by using only compost. Emissions producing, transporting and applying the fertilizer must be added to any fertilizer emissions occurring while the fertilizer lies on the soil. Does the result justify asking farmers or home gardeners to compost? Are there advantages to mixing fertilizer into the soil, even if the mixing requires energy? II B 1 “Cap and trade” must be compared to “cap and auction”. I oppose either if it subjects some populations to more GHG than others; that could raise an environmental justice issue. II B 3 Green Buildings I oppose helping people pay their fuel bills, although that is necessary in emergencies. Instead, reduce a home’s carbon dioxide production by subsidizing insulation, installing double paned windows, providing education to the occupants, buying new efficient air conditioning or evaporative cooler and appliances, painting roofs and walls white and all the other green building techniques. For example, replacing worn paint on a low income house could be subsidized only if the owner chooses white paint. II B 7 Urban or Rural Forest How long do the trees in these forests, such as fruit and nut trees, live or become non-productive? How long after death will it take them to release the GHG they contain? If they are used for fuel, is all their carbon released? Can they be used for fuel without releasing criteria pollutants? II B 9 Buses are sustainable vehicles Recent increases in gasoline prices have increased ridership and may have decreased fatal automobile collisions. Imagine the ridership if buses went where folks wish to go. Buses should produce as few criteria pollutants as possible. Bakersfield’s “GET” buses do that by using natural gas; others may use other short chain hydrocarbons. There are small European diesel cars that emit little, I do not know if there are clean diesel buses. Get rid of fare boxes on buses. Currently the fare box pays at least one fifth of the municipal bus line’s cost. Bus riders reduce GHG and criteria pollutants; car drivers do the opposite. Not having a fare box makes taking on passengers easier for bus drivers and eliminates the cost of buying and maintaining the fare box. Traffic may move easier, and thus emit less, if more of us are in the bus. Plain clothed police should patrol buses and drivers should be able to summon police by pushing a button with a hand or foot. All new developments and alterations should accommodate buses. This includes bus stop pull outs along roads, bus stops in parking lots, benches and shelters. II B 12 Solar Roofs All weight bearing surfaces in hot, sunny central California should be covered with solar voltaic panels. There is almost no transmission loss from such urban and suburban solar sources. Parking lots should be roofed with solar panels; the supporting poles should withstand collisions, thus avoiding electrocution from collisions. II B 13 Local Government Actions I hope CARB staff will comment on proposals to develop small lots adjacent to larger lots and to build apartments next to free standing single occupancy or single family homes. CARB staff should attend City and County meetings to see the intense desire San Joaquin Valley residents have to live in large free standing homes on large lots. This may be one cause of the Valley’s current high incidence of foreclosures. This desire to sprawl, coupled with the absence of mass transit generates driving that generates much carbon dioxide. Failure to make the connection between transportation and land use is an indirect source of GHG and deserves a GHG Indirect Source Rule, as proposed on page 38. Community Water should consider that the San Joaquin Valley gets six inches of rain a year at the southern end, increasing as one approaches Sacramento to eighteen inches. Yet our towns have many small manmade lakes, many of which are not diversions of our rivers and are not shared by many residents. Lakes are OK in eastern United States where there is often over forty inches of rain a year. Much of our water is pumped over the Sierras by fossil fueled pumps. II B 15 Recycling and Waste We need to compare the GHG generated by industrial production of inorganic fertilizer and the GHG generated by composting. The amounts of nitrogen produced by each method need to be compared; where California soil requires sulfur or phosphorous, those should be compared. II B 16 Agriculture Methane Capture at Large Dairies Compare the methane and carbon dioxide produced by local Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) with that produced by importing milk from the east and mid west; include the GHG produced by the dairies the milk is imported from. Include the GHG produced by importing water for the California dairies. Sequestration in Permanent Crops How long does a nut or fruit tree live compared to the length of time our planet will have a problem with green house gases? What happens to the carbon in a tree when it dies or is cut down? If the tree is buried, how much green house gas is generated by the machines that bury it, including the manufacture and fueling of those machines? Can a fallen tree create energy without releasing all of its carbon? II C 1 Feebates This was proposed for gasoline mileage by Senator Hart of Santa Barbara in the 1990s; I think it a good idea. II C 2 Hurrah for carbon fees and water fees. With these fees, solar pumps will soon move most of California’s water; some of the places water is moved are especially sunny. Semi-tropic water district (in or near Kern County) has used solar water pumps for years. Thank you for the opportunity to comment, Art PS Please provide me with all announcements concerning this project. PSS I will send a hard copy upon request.
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2008-07-17 17:06:20
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