Given the high amount of emissions from our transportation
sector, it is imperative that we should do as much as possible to
reduce emissions in that sector, in order to meet our legal
obligations in statute as well as our ethical obligation to
maintain a healthy environment for all, whether it be from the
toxic air pollutants that affect those living next to highways or
the carbon dioxide that affects our general climate. And it's
harder to encourage a good economy when the cost of climate
inaction grows ever more larger, from wildfires and
energy-demand-induced inflation.
While I prefer strategies that reduce the amount of vehicles
there are, I recognize that this isn't the hearing for that. As
such, for this hearing, I ask for rules that require:
- 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2030. - 7% annual
pollution cuts from gas-powered cars in the meantime. -
Mandatory equity commitments to ensure that communities most
affected by pollution benefit from electric vehicles first and
foremost.
Separately, I also ask CARB to look into the general increasing
sizes of vehicles, which inherently increase the energy demand and
thus complicate our path to a clean transportation fleet and energy
grid. This trend needs to be reversed, which would also provide
safety benefits for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road
users.
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