This MUST be
improved or it will be a matter of too little too late.
We will face
increasingly devastating wildfires and subsequent mudslides as
global warming continues.
The survival
of humanity is in question and the quality of life for future
generations.
According to
the IPCC’s special report on 1.5°C, we have just ten
years to halve emissions in order to stave off the worst effects of
the climate crisis and this does not have the scope and power to
get us there.
Some
suggestions in no particular order:
·
*
Immediately end financing for expansion of
fossil fuels and deforestation
·
*
No permits
for exploration, expansions
·
*
Bonds that
will cover worst case scenarios MUST beposted prior to ANY work to
cover emergency response, medical care as long as needed,
remediation of the land and water
·
* Create ways
to keep it in the ground
·
* REDUCE the extraction, transportation,
refining and use of ALL fossil fuels.
·
*
Back off on ANY further drilling permits
and stop ALL welfare (subsidies, tax breaks, deductions, waiving
fees, non-enforcement of appropriate penalties, etc.) to every
element of the fossil fuel industries - exploration,
excavation/drilling, transportation, refining, sale, storage and
use!
·
*
AND make sure
executives DO NOT take losses out from customers.
·
*
DEMAND
transparency of all chemicals used in every operation: the fracking
cocktails and other so-called proprietary industry secrets should
not be allowed to be hidden behind the corporate veil. And if someone dies, it's
murder, not an accident
·
*
ABSOLUTELY no
pardons or restitution for colluding parties such as real estate
developers and state, county or city officials; INCREASE charges
and fines to send a strong, clear message to ensure every entity
involved in similar operations immediately clean up their
act
·
*
BAN
greenwashing and severely fine companies that do for
fraud
·
*
MOVE AWAY
from carbon capture technology which in its very nature implies
CONTINUED oil and gas extraction and use – despite a great
deal of investment because oil companies think it would allow them
to continue exploiting fossil fuels ad infinitum – so far it
doesn’t work or is ineffective to scale up or is not cost
effective
·
*
MOVE ON to
the tried and true – reforestation and
·
*
STOP with the
Cap-and-trade AKA pay-to-pollute approach which too often
off-shores American pollution but pollution anywhere is what is
killing the world
·
* BAN biogas
from factory farms is a blight and these "farms" should be shut
down immediately to reduce methane emissions and allow a return to
healthier forms of agriculture around the world
·
*
ENACT a ban
on fracking and all new fossil fuel infrastructure
·
*
ALL
government entities must immediately DIVEST from fossil fuel stocks
– this is a no-brainer as – even though prices are up
due to shortages and corporate buybacks, values have tumbled
dramatically in the past decade and there is no evidence there will
be any significant recovery
·
*
WITHDRAW ALL
forms of 'corporate welfare' at the state level and consider ways
to offset federal subsidies
·
*
DRIVE
investment dollars to renewable energy
·
*
ENACT laws
and regulations so that the principals of these companies can NO
LONGER fold them and walk away leaving federal, state and local
governments to pick up the costs of water, air and a land laid
waste
·
*
DEMAND
RECOMPENSE NOW FOR low-income and communities of color which have
suffered their own public health crises as a result of living,
working, and playing near harmful fossil fuel extraction sites and
other sources of pollution
·
*
BAN outright
contributions by and lobbyists from fossil fuel companies and all
related enterprises
·
*
BAN ANY
COMPANY from doing business in California that involves itself in
manipulating any government or contributes to deaths of humans and
animals directly (explosions due to safety violations) or
indirectly (Deepwater Horizon spill)
·
*
ADVOCATE for
a swift transition from carbon fuels to green energy
·
*
IMMEDIATELY
SHUT DOWN ALL oil and gas operations within 2,500' of homes,
offices, schools, farms, hospitals, businesses, senior housing,
etc.
·
*
REMOVE
subsurface oil and gas lease profiteering from the equation –
an issue because people have bought and sold these rights based on
prior assumptions – however, the world and our view of
man’s footprint on our planet has changed significantly since
the oil company cover-ups were revealed
·
*
STOP THE LIES
– at a petroleum conference from 1959 called the "Energy and
Man" symposium, held at New York’s Columbia University,
Edward Teller, who contributed to the hydrogen bomb, warned
industry executives about global warming saying: “Whenever
you burn conventional fuel, you create carbon dioxide. … Its
presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect …(if
the world kept using fossil fuels, the ice caps would begin to
melt, raising sea levels until) all the coastal cities would be
covered"
·
*
PROTECT the
innocent: greater air pollution is a known predictor of more
COVID-19 cases and poorer results
·
*
in the short
term, ALL regulations curtailing pollution in the excavation,
transportation, refining and use of fossil fuels MUST be reinstated
and strengthened
·
*
GIVEN
companies prefer to show profits rather than spend any money on
safety, MANDATE the SHUTDOWN of all of a company’s operations
after ANY spill until everything inspected.
·
*
REFUSE to
allow ANY transit or processing of tar sands oil
·
*
SUBSIDIZE
homeowners conversion to electric heating and cooking
·
*
GIVEN
companies tend to avoid retooling until the last possible moment,
give them to next year to offer only electric
appliances
·
*
IMPOSE HUGE
tariffs on ALL oil imports to stop the demand that is driving
abusive extraction in the Amazon
·
*
IMPOSE EVEN
STIFFER PENALTIES on ANY company whether based in California or
elsewhere to try and circumvent these policies
·
*
DITTO on ANY
company that works with governments where there are indigenous
abuse whether directly or indirectly related to their
work
·
*
WORK with
businesses to convert refineries, storage facilities, service
stations and other ancillary businesses to green energy and other
low-carbon, high-tech purposes
I am very disappointed that the Draft
Scoping Plan as presented fails to meet the urgency of the climate
crisis and the desperate need for bold actions. CARB must double
down and come up with a more ambitious Scoping Plan that leads to
an accelerated pathway to carbon neutrality so that the
state’s 40 million residents and future generations of
Californians can live in and thrive in a cleaner and healthier
environment.
Don't let
anyone whine about their losses - they've been living on corporate
welfare for generations.
Do we still subsidize buggy whip manufacturers?