My name is Meg
Whitman, MD and I am a doctor and mother from Yolo County, CA. CARB is charged
with protecting the public from the harmful effects of air
pollution and developing actions to fight climate change. This
draft does neither.  Climate change is a public health crisis.
The science is clear: we have a terrifyingly short time frame to
stop burning fossil fuels and we cannot continue to foolishlishly
invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure, yet the Draft plan
proposes increasing gas-fired power generation (by 10 gigawatts
equivalent to 30 new, mid-sized gas-fired power plants).
This is a large step backwards. California cannot
rely on risky, ineffective climate deadends like Carbon Capture
technology that allows them to continue to pollute. CALGEM's
scientific advisory panel has clearly stated, the most effective
way to protect public health from oil and gas operations
is to
immediately stop drilling and developing new wells , and phase out
existing oil and gas development activities and associated
infrastructure. As a primary care physician with advanced epidmeliogic
training, I know first hand the effects that living near oil
drilling sites can have on a person's health. Breathing in toxic
gasses over a long period of time can be fatal in the worst cases
and have damaging health effects even in the short term, especially
during a pandemic. 
I'll never forget the patient who
established care with me in the Sacramento area; after her long
time allergist essentially advised her to leave the Bay Area due to
her difficult to manage reactive airway disease. She was taking 4
daily medications for her maintenance treatment, but had never been
able to stop taking predinsone, despite numerous trials over
several years. She desperately wanted to wean off some of her
medications - she knew they subjected her to increased risk of
bruising, infection, osteoporosis, but unfortunately, after having
moved to this area, her asthma attacks were no less frequent and no
less severe. One day., she asked me if she should stay here. maybe
somebday she would acclimate to it?; and I had no way of anwsering
her question. Will the pollen seasons contrinue to expand in
concentration and ovetr time? How long will it take us to
transition fron internal combustion engines to electric vehicles;
since tail pipe pollution from I-80 reaches us here, in our homes?.
It's an essential question that keeps me up at night, often these
days, . 

"Where will it be safe?
Where will I be able to breathe?"
"I don't know. I don't know." was
all I could say
Because it depends on what we do
now

Health professionals across the globe recognize that
climate change is a public health
crisis which impacts the health of people now and to a greater
degree in the future. The science is clear, we have a terrifying short time
frame to stop burning fossil fuels and must not invest in
building new fossil fuel infrastructure. A path to a green economy exists, and it's
more affordable now than ever. Existing and currently planned fossil fuel
projects are already more than the climate can
handle. We are deeply concerned that the Draft
Scoping
Plan
calls for
increasing gas-fired power generation by 10 gigawatts
(equivalent to 30 new, mid-sized gas-fired power plants) and
instead of fast tracking strategies that result in direct emission
reduction, it heavily relies on unproven technologies such as
Carbon Capture, Storage (CCS) and Direct Air Capture with
unrealistic expectations and prohibitive social cost. 
 
 A recent EPA
analysis affirms that
profound adverse health consequences of climate change
disproportionately harm Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, and
low-income communities. Due to the lack of obtainable options to
address the climate crisis, these communities are not equipped with
the necessary protective measures to prepare and cope with the
outcomes, further increasing their vulnerability. It is time to meet the urgency of the
climate crisis by prioritizing the frontline communities it impacts
the most. We need to phase out fossil fuels, and we
need to start with sacrifice zones to right the environmental
injustice. 
 



Reliance on Carbon capture technologies for
achieving carbon neutrality will subsidize and perpetuate the
fossil fuel industry, increase GHG emissions, exacerbate
environmental racism and local pollution burdens in EJ communities,
and has no place in the Scoping Plan.  


CARB should prioritize community-driven
solutions that advance a just transition away from fossil fuels and
support regenerative economic sectors while promoting good,
family-sustaining wage jobs creation and training pathways for
impacted workers.


 
 
I request that CARB regain it's position among the
World's climate leaders by accelerating our transition from a
fossil fuel based to a regenerative technology which both protects
the lungs of it's citiszens today as well as the health of our
planet.
 
 Real climate solutions are clean air and public health
solutions. 
 
 
Thank you,
Meg Whitman, MD