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Dear Ms. Nichols and California Air Pollution Control District
Board Members:

The Santa Barbara Community Environmental Council (SBCEC) is a
member-supported environmental non-profit organization formed in
Santa Barbara in 1970 and is a leading environmental organization
in the Central Coast region of California. In 2004, SBCEC shifted
its primary focus to energy and transportation issues and is
spearheading a regional effort to move away from our dependence on
fossil fuels over the next two decades. SBCEC is almost unique in
combining on-the-ground work on a number of energy and climate
change-related issues with concurrent work on state and federal
policy issues. SBCEC’s state policy work is directly informed by
experience with what has worked, or is likely to work, at the local
level. More information on the SBCEC and its energy programs may be
found at www.cecsb.org.

SBCEC would like to thank the Staff and leadership of ARB in their
efforts to draft the Cap and Trade Auction Proceeds Investment
Plan. We are in full support of the goals of the Plan, as well as
the eligible investment categories.

We submitted a letter (attached) to Ms. Shelby Livingston, Chief of
the Climate Change Program Planning and Management Branch regarding
our support for various GHG reduction programs that have proven
effective.  We'd like to add support for the Vessel Speed Reduction
Initiative.

We are part of the working group on the Vessel Speed Reduction
Initiative and strongly support inclusion of this initiative in the
Cap and Trade Plan. Large cargo ships traveling off our coast
produce significant GHG and toxic air emissions that impact our
coastal communities. Ship strikes also pose a threat to whales.
Slowing down cargo ships meets multiple objectives in your Draft
Cap-and-Trade Investment Plan including: reducing GHG emissions and
other air pollutants, improving public health, and better
protecting whales. CECSB supports including vessel speed reduction
in your Final Plan as a priority for funding and request
Cap-and-Trade money be directed to the Vessel Speed Reduction
Initiative.