Comment Log Display

Comments for Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds Investment Plan

To: The California Air Resources Board
From: Nail Salon Women Greening Their Jobs and The Environment
A project of Community Health for Asian Americans in Oakland,
California
Ann Rojas-Cheatham and Trang Nguyen (Co-Directors)

We are part of the SB 535 Coalition and fully support the
coalition’s principals and programs.  

We would like to propose strategies for use of the California
Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds that both improve the health of
workers in low-wage toxic industries in California AND reduce GHG
and other toxic pollutants from these industries.  

Disadvantaged workers in California tend to work in mid-market
industries (Ortiz, P. 2006, “Industries that are Tops for Women of
Color” www.diversityinc.com   Accessed January 3, 2010).  These
same mid-market industries have also been identified by the Hewlett
Foundation as one of the top 5 sectors to be intervened upon in
order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (David and Lucile Packard
Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Energy
Foundation, Joyce Foundation, California Environmental Associates,
Oak Foundation, and the Wiliam and Flora Hewlett Foundation, (2007)
‘Design to win, philanthropy’s role in the fight against global
warming, p.7, www.climateactionproject.com/docs/Design, accessed
2013.  Efforts to mitigate climate change have focused on energy
producing industries and the transportation sector.  It is also
critical to investigate secondary industries that depend on fossil
fuel energy production.  These industries that have indirect or
‘secondary’greenhouse gas emissions, and collectively are as dirty
as the top emitters are called mid-market companies.  If mid-market
industries don’t alter their products and demands for energy, oil
refineries and coal plants that are major sources of CO2 emissions
will continue to produce the same supply.  

Though mid-market industries do not directly emit significant
amounts of GHGs, they have a greater than expected impact on global
warming through GHG emissions released in the full life cycle
(extraction to disposal) of the primary chemicals and materials
used to make their products.  

In many low-wage toxic mid level industries climate change
mitigation opportunities can also improve the health and working
conditions of disadvantaged workers and their communities.  These
include the nail salon industry, the semiconductor industry, the
dry-cleaning industry and the auto body industry among others.  

We propose programs that will transform these industries to reduce
their GHG emissions and other toxic pollutants AND improve the
working conditions for the workers in the industries.  We propose
public/private partnerships in order to make these changes.  A good
example of a public/private partnership is the program in which the
City of Los Angeles AND the trucking corporations both agreed to
contribute resources to the change out of diesel engines to engines
that would reduce greenhouse gases and have an improved impact on
driver’s  health.  

Currently Nail Salon Women Greening Their Jobs and the Environment
is working to transform the nail salon industry in Oakland in order
to both reduce the GHG and other toxic pollutants from the industry
AND improve the health and working conditions of nail salon workers
city wide.  Nail salons in Oakland need support and resources to
make changes to reduce their energy use, use less toxic products,
reduce their water use and improve their disposal practices.  A
public/private partnership between corporations that supply
products (nail products, energy, water and cleaning products) and
the government could be developed to provide the necessary
resources and technical assistance to California Nail Salons in
order to transform this industry.  

We propose that many mid level industries beyond nail salons in
California could reduce their GHG and other toxic pollutants
(improving air quality) and simultaneously improve the working
conditions of disadvantaged workers  (green jobs that workers are
already in) statewide via public/private partnerships supported by
Cap and Trade Auction Proceeds.