Dear Board Members,
Thank you for your important
work. I am a 6th grade teacher in Sonoma County, California. My
students have experienced the effects of 6 climate-related
disasters since 2017. As I witness their confusion, fear, and, for
some, trauma, it is clear to me that insufficient climate action is
a form of generational neglect and abandonment.
Please signal to my students
that the adults are doing all we possibly can to reshape the
systems that have exposed them to such climate harm. Here are some
concrete ways to do so:
1) Exclude any new
investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and pursue renewable
energy.
CARB’s preferred
pathway, Alternative 3, proposes to build the equivalent of at
least 33 new mid size or 100 peaker gas power plants. The
latest IPCC report makes it clear that we must rapidly reduce our
reliance on fossil fuels.
2) Pursue direct emissions
reductions rather than gambling on carbon capture and other
unproven technologies.
The Draft relies heavily on
technologies such as Carbon Capture, Usage and Sequestration and
Direct Air Capture rather than accelerating zero carbon renewable
energy. These technologies are unproven, and should not be used to
prolong the lives of oil refineries or methane gas power
plants.
3) Reduce emissions from the
transportation sector to comply with the Governor’s Executive
Order.
The Draft lays out a slower
path to heavy duty zero emission vehicles than is necessary to
achieve California’s climate goals and air quality standards.
Not only would this fail to comply with the governor's executive
order to transition 100% of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to
zero-emission vehicles by 2045, it could also leave dirty, diesel
trucks in California communities beyond 2050.
4) Phase out oil and gas
extraction and petroleum refining earlier
CARB should phase out oil
refining by 2045 and oil and gas extraction by 2035 as part of a
managed decline of fossil fuels. The fossil fuel supply chain not
only emits large amounts of greenhouse gas, it poisons the air,
water, and soil of communities and ecosystems that are forced to
live adjacent to them. These communities, predominantly low-income
communities of color, have become sacrifice zones for the oil and
gas supply chain.
5) Set a date for
electrification retrofits in addition to replacing gas appliances
at end-of-life
Alternative 3 recommends
that gas appliances in commercial and residential buildings are
retired at the end of their useful life. This is bad from economic,
climate, and environmental justice perspectives. This approach
hampers the decommissioning of segments of the gas distribution
system, as commercial and residential buildings will require gas
until their appliances burn out. It also entrenches methane leakage
and gas combustion pollution, as gas appliances that were purchased
before 2035 can operate for decades, potentially. And it risks
leaving the last customers on the gas system without heat when
their gas appliances burnout, if they are not adequately prepared
to switch to electric appliances.
Californians deserve and
demand better.
Sincerely,
Park Guthrie