Dear California Air Resources Board,
I'm writing to you today as the
parent of a 9-year old child. I want him to have a livable future
and that is not looking so good right now. We have spent the last
five years waiting for evacuation orders every fall, navigating
smoke for months at a time, and dealing with extreme heat and power
outages.
The draft 2022 Scoping Plan doubles
down on fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when clean energy is
cheaper than fossil fuels and often more reliable during extreme
weather events. It doesn't make any sense to build new gas power
plants right now.
In this year’s Scoping Plan, we have an opportunity to
commit California to effective, intelligent action. Please include
the following as priorities in the 2022 Climate Change Scoping
Plan:
1. A full, coordinated phase out of fossil fuels by 2035 or
earlier, with targets for oil refining by 2045, oil and gas
extraction by 2035, and a clean electric grid by 2035.
2. Eliminate reliance on climate policy dead ends like Carbon
Capture and Storage (which has an 80% failure rate!). This
"solution" is the brainchild of fossil fuel executives to allow
them to keep polluting for profit.
2. Accelerate and scale up investments in clean vehicles and
clean mass transit.
California is already a cautionary tale with regards to carbon
offsets under AB32. Environmental justice advocates warned that
offsets perpetuate pollution, but they were brushed aside. And they
were right. Let's not keep repeating the same mistakes that lock in
more systemic racism, courtesy of oil and gas pollution in redlined
neighborhoods.
The currently proposed Scoping plan is indefensible, but you can
change that. Please do.
Sincerely,
Stacey Meinzen