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California Budget Is Painful to All – Especially Breathers

2009-02-21T01:28:47Z

The California Air Resources Board ("CARB") recently enacted rules to fight air pollution from off-road diesel vehicles such as construction equipment and tractors. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (precursors of ozone) and diesel particulates (known carcinogens) were specifically targeted. CARB staff estimates that approximately 4,000 premature deaths will be avoided statewide by the year 2030 due to the off-road rules, as well as 680,000 work loss days. CARB enacted this rule in public session after several years of public input, including public hearings in which the heavy equipment industry had a chance to make their case. The final rule requires owners of fleets of off-road vehicles to modernize (on a fleet average basis) the vehicles' engines, over a period of years.

These rules are important not just for the public health impacts, but because California needs them to be in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act. Because the air in our state is so bad, CARB has to give the federal EPA a written plan, called a State Implementation Plan or SIP, that shows how we will clean up the air to federal standards. Part of the SIP requirement is that CARB show EPA how California will make progress towards our clean air goals. If California can't show we're making progress, federal highway and other funds could be pulled.

CARB relied on the pollution reductions that the off-road diesel rules will bring in showing the EPA how it will make yearly progress towards the required goal and the progress needed to show that it will ultimately meet the clean air standards on time. Now, Legislative Republicans forced a back room budget deal to cut the legs out from under CARB. This means that, as of this writing, California is violating the Clean Air Act because it cannot show that it will meet the air pollution reduction requirements that the Act demands.

CARB has been whistling past the graveyard, saying publicly that it can find enough pollution reductions elsewhere to make up the difference. But if extra reductions were so easy to find, CARB would have already found them and put them into the SIP. The truth is that air pollution reductions lost in the budget compromise will be very difficult to make up, putting California's physical and economic health in danger. As long as California's budget process allows a handful of legislators to hold the state hostage, our environmental and public health programs are at risk. It's time for reform.

DUDE! Californians Riding the Waves in Washington, D.C.

2009-02-13T19:29:56Z

The moment Senator Dianne Feinstein opened the inaugural ceremony, I had a sense of coming home. After all, there were two California women (Feinstein and Speaker Nancy Pelosi) accompanying President Obama down the stairs and they, along with lots of Californians, are now in a position to help lead our nation away from the mistakes of the past, particularly when it comes to energy and the environment. Because while environmental leadership has been missing in action in the nation's capital for the past 8 years, we've been busy here in the states - and there's no place we've been busier than here in California. California's economy has grown at a healthy pace (we're now the 8th or 7th largest economy in the world, depending on how France is doing on any given day) while at the same time, we've strengthened our energy, environmental and public health protections. And we've learned a lot of valuable lessons about balancing economic and environmental considerations along the way.

Because of California's progressive energy programs, we now use less electricity per capita than anyone else in the nation. Our energy grid is less reliant on fossil fuels and uses more renewable energy than average. And we've taken steps to protect our snowpack and coastal economy from the worst effects of global warming by enacting the first law in the world to control greenhouse gas emissions from cars, setting a clean electricity production standard, capping total greenhouse gas emissions, designing a low carbon fuel standard, aiming for aggressive renewable energy goals and linking land use to global warming policy, among other new ideas. Many other states, hungry for action, have taken matters into their own hands and adopted similar policies.

As a coastal state, we're trying to take better care of the ocean here, too. We started by setting up the first statewide network of parks in the sea or "marine reserves." Then when two national bipartisan committees called for a new era of ocean conservation, while Washington, D.C., turned a deaf ear, California heeded the call for improved governance and set up the first Ocean Protection Council. Now other states like New York have set these up, too.

These are just a few examples of what states have been up to. So now that there's new leadership in Washington, D.C., there are workable models and active coalitions of business and local government and labor and environmental and community groups all ready to help move a productive agenda at the national level. California's Congressional leaders have been paying attention to the progress in our state and they are set to lead. Fortunately, they're in the right place at the right time. Not only has President Obama tapped some top California talent like Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (LCV* score 85%) and CEQ head Nancy Sutley, but our senators and representatives are in leadership positions that make a difference. Both the Senate Environment Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committees - the two committees that will design federal global warming legislation - are headed by veteran California environmental heroes - Sen. Barbara Boxer (LCV 100%) and Rep. Henry Waxman (LCV 100%) respectively.

They know how California has managed to have a strong economy while making history fighting climate change and they know how to translate that nationally. Sen. Feinstein (LCV 100%) not only heads up the Senate Intelligence Committee, when it comes to the environment, she chairs the committee with the purse strings - the Interior Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. And of course Speaker Pelosi has a long history of working to protect the environment. The district she represents used to be represented by the late Phil Burton - father of some of the most magnificent national parks and wilderness areas in the country. The legacy of that seat lives on. She named environmentally savvy George Miller to chair the House democratic policy committee. Rep. Sam Farr (LCV 92%) has been an ocean champion since he was on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. Now his Oceans 21 legislation, an innovative approach to ocean conservation, has a real chance. Californians have sent environmental leaders to Congress. We have 56 members of Congress - the biggest delegation by far and nearly 60% of them have LCV scores 85% or higher (16 of them perfect 100s - Boxer, Feinstein, Berman, Capps, Davis, Eshoo, Harman, Honda, Lee, Lofgren, Sanchez, Schiff, Stark, Tauscher, Waters and Tauscher).

California's diversity and size enable us to field a hard-hitting team in Washington. Now they have a chance to bring some light to national environmental leadership. Ride on dudes!

*LCV (League of Conservation Voters http://www.lcv.org/scorecard/ )

Is Schwarzenegger throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

2008-12-23T20:59:07Z

Has Governor Schwarzenegger forgotten that California's environmental quality is the backbone of our economy? One of the things that make it so exciting to work in California is that, by and large, people here get it and they want to protect it. They know that clean water, clean air, beaches and landscapes are the backdrop for a state economy that thrives on efficiency and innovation. They understand that clean, renewable energy fights global warming and can help get us out of the economic doldrums.

And for the last five years Governor Schwarzenegger made this connection too. He's been one of the most visible champions on the world stage for the proposition that a healthy environment and strong economy go hand in hand. Remember this Newsweek cover, when he was holding the globe?

So why has he changed since last year when he summed up his global leadership platform at a speech he gave at Georgetown University, " ... we can protect the environment and protect the economy, and that's what I've been saying for years...and we have proven it in California." Again, earlier this year, "Economic growth and environmental action are not mutually exclusive."

He's said this again and again. He's signed landmark bills to combat global warming - bills to cap greenhouse gas emissions and most recently led California as the first state in the nation to inject climate protection into the transportation and land use equation. So, why now that the going's getting tough in the economy is Schwarzenegger pushing for less environmental protection?

It doesn't make sense and it will set us down a road that will make it harder for us to build a future of green infrastructure. His budget proposal will lead to more of the same - more freeway lanes and more air pollution rather than more transit and less pollution. I've worked with the Governor and his Air Board and Energy Commission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and now I'm scratching my head as to why he's making this hard right turn now. NRDC and our allies here in California sent a letter to the governor recently letting him know that there are better ways to develop jobs and stimulate the economy.

California's dedication to our workforce and investment in developing clean energy technology has built our economy into the seventh largest economy in the world. As we work to keep that edge, let us not forget what made us strong in the first place and let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think we all get it. These are tough times, but it's times like this that we need to work toward what's best for California.

Harmful CA Energy Props Fail on Election Day

2008-11-05T22:09:11Z

I don't know about you, but I'm still poring over the maps and looking at the percentages and trying to let it sink in. One of the things this change signals is a new chance to move the great work that states all over the country have been doing to develop a clean energy economy to the national stage. Here in California we've been focusing on getting the fight against global warming going and getting it right.

Yesterday, California voters took another step in the right direction by rejecting two disruptive ballot initiatives, Prop 7 and Prop 10, which would have taken us on an unproductive detour. The California Secretary of State's website shows you how people voted for each prop. NRDC along with most other environmental groups in California opposed Props 7 and 10 -- not because we don't want more renewable energy and alternative fuels, but because we do -- these just weren't the way to get the job done.

Now we can sharpen our focus on getting real results from the programs that are in place in California to reduce our greenhouse gas pollution by improving our energy efficiency and getting more of our energy from renewable resources like solar and wind. There's a lot to do on that front. Right now the CA Air Resources Board is considering how to implement our landmark global warming bill, AB 32 and in the draft Scoping Plan in front of them is a proposal to get 33% of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. NRDC is championing that policy. We're also leading an effort to figure out how to get renewable energy to market and protecting natural resources too. And we are amping up our efforts to wring every bit of energy we can out of every watt we use -- our energy efficiency team is reforming the way we light our homes, freeze our food, charge our phones, get cool drinks from vending machines, play video games and more. So it's good news that Californians continue to support a clean energy economy and our state's voters can tell a good idea from a cockeyed one.

California Keeps Moving Towards Solving Global Warming

2008-06-18T23:51:29Z

As a continuation of my first video blog, here I talk about two pieces of solutions-based legislation in California aimed at combatting global warming.

The first is AB 32, The Global Warming Solutions Act, a landmark law that NRDC helped pass in 2006 and now we're working hard to make sure it makes a difference as it is implemented.

The second, SB 375 - by Senator Darrell Steinberg, the incoming Pro Tem of the California State Senate - is another vehicle (pun intended) to reduce emissions of heat-trapping pollution by getting people out of their cars through better planning.

Check out this editorial in the Sacramento Bee for more background.

The Poorely Ritten Enurgy Propozishun - Don't Be Fooled

2008-06-18T23:34:13Z

Hi, for my first blog I decided to post a video. Click below to watch me talk about another round of California ballot measures coming this November, including a poorly written energy proposition. Unfortunately, the sloppy language is the least of the problem. The real danger is that confused voters could mistake the laudable goal of increasing renewable energy for an effective solution. If passed, this measure would actually be a setback for clean energy in California. Check out this article in the Los Angeles Times for more background.