Comment Log Display

I understand you are interested in comments  on the high level
concepts presented or alternative concepts, while keeping in mind
that some of these are statutory requirements or existing and draft
plans that have been under development for a while with a public
process.

All of the four concepts contain elements for reaching the 2020 GHG
Statewide limit mandated by AB 32. Concepts one and four are the
ones that attempt to capture the externalities from use of fossil
fuels that is causing the catastrophic problem of climate change.
Too often environmental costs of production and use of materials is
passed on to society and is not reflected in the price of the good.
Clean water, soil erosion, and clean air all suffer from pollution.
The only solution is to capture these costs in to the price of the
goods to society, so that alternatives without these costs will
compete fairly. 
I prefer concept 4, since these costs are reflected in a carbon
tax. Concept 1 of cap and trade has partially worked in California,
but it still allows the polluter to continue to pollute if they
just buy credits from someone who has less pollution. The proceeds
from the tax would be best spent on mitigating past degradation of
the environment such as low-income areas directly impacted by the
fossil fuel plants or building an infrastructure to support a
national electric vehicle network, or a short-term subsidy to
increase the development of electric cars and buses.

The ultimate goal of transportation has to be the elimination of
all gas-powered vehicles, not just 1.5 million by a certain year.

The State must work with Federal agencies so that all working lands
and federal lands are able to employ prescribed burns on a large
scale to sequester carbon on an ecological basis restoring large
trees rather than encouraging stem trees. This means the ARB has to
allow more prescribed burning to reduce the wildfires that cause
greater total pollution.

It seems that the most important goal at the present time is to get
Gov. Brown's executive order seeking to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in California to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030
enacted by the legislature, so that this scoping paper will be
meaningful. 

Thank you for your consideration.