We are in the midst of a global climate crisis that threatens
every species on Earth. It is caused by our greenhouse gas
emissions, the vast majority of which are produced by the fossil
fuel industry. In the face of this looming catastrophe, which
will render our planet uninhabitable to large portions of our
populations, it is absolutely insane to approve any new fossil fuel
infrastructure. It is, in fact, long past time to reduce and
phase out all oil production over the next ten to fifteen
years.
Furthermore, CARB's scoping plan envisions sourcing crude oil
from the Amazon, the one area of the planet that has the most
potential for sequestering carbon and preventing climate
catastrophe. So on top of exacerbating the climate crisis,
the current scoping plan depends on tactics that will make
California complicit in the further destruction of the Amazon rain
forest and in violations of indigenous rights in that region.
This is antithetical to the values that California espouses.
In addition, it is tantamount to condemning California to
climate chaos.
We are already seeing the consequences of our poor
decision-making in the climate changes that have already happened.
We are now in a 1200-year drought, our water sources are
depleted, and we are facing a hot, dangerous wildfire season.
The last 5 years have seen our worst wildfires in California
history.
CARB must not ignore this evidence and approve more destructive
oil infrastructure at a time of mounting crisis. What CARB
does today will impact generations to come. Do NOT increase
fossil fuel infrastructure, and DO NOT import crude oil from the
Amazon.
To do so would be disastrous to our future.