I urge you to revise the California
Air Resources Board’s climate scoping plan so that it meets
the scale and urgency of the climate crisis and environmental
racism here in California. As currently drafted, it’s an
abdication of climate leadership and a failure of ambition.
Climate delay is climate denial. So first and foremost, the
plan must ensure near-zero carbon emissions by 2035, which would
represent the accelerated progress Gov. Newsom has called for many
times. Retaining the grossly inadequate target of “carbon
neutrality” by 2045 is a recipe for disaster, enabling
further delay we can’t afford.
Likewise, the proposed timelines for ending fossil fuel
energy and electrifying transportation and buildings are
inadequate, as they’re based on a flawed cost-benefit
analysis that severely underestimates the costs of delaying rapid
decarbonization and relies on unproven, risky technologies such as
carbon capture and storage.
Instead, a revised plan must commit to: (1) a full,
coordinated phase-out of fossil fuels, with targets for ending oil
and gas extraction, and a clean, just electric grid by 2030; (2)
scaling up investments in mass transit and accelerating
electrification of transportation and buildings, including 100%
electric-vehicle sales by 2030, and no new gas appliance sales by
2025; and (3) eliminating reliance on climate policy dead-ends like
carbon capture and sequestration.
We already possess the technology and resources to
accelerate the transition away from fossil fuel energy in a way
that addresses environmental injustice, doesn’t leave workers
behind, and provides tremendous benefits to our state’s
economy. But the draft plan would prolong frontline
communities’ exposure to fossil fuel pollution for decades,
allow climate inaction with industry scams and unproven
techno-fantasies, forgo the many benefits of a rapid shift to
renewable energy, and keep us on a deadly path to climate
collapse.
I’m counting on you to demonstrate true climate
leadership to the world by fixing the scoping plan and accelerating
our path to near-zero carbon emissions to 2035, at the
latest.
Thanks for your attention, Bonita Richman
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