The PCL Insider: News From The Capitol
A RISING SEA OF SUITS: PACKED HOUSE HEARS LATEST PLANS FOR
IMPLEMENTATION OF CALIFORNIA’S GLOBAL WARMING LEGISLATION
On Monday, over two-hundred industry representatives,
environmental advocates, and public agency staff gathered in
Sacramento for a workshop to discuss the implementation of
California’s new law to reduce the state’s
greenhouse gas emissions.
With the auditorium and overflow room filled to capacity,
California Air Resources Board staff outlined their
agency’s process to develop the statewide emissions
reduction program.
To fulfill the requirements of AB 32, the Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006, the Air Resources
Board will develop a statewide greenhouse gas
emissions inventory and reporting protocol, prepare a long-term
plan of greenhouse gas limits and enforcement measures, and
implement a set of initial actions to reduce emissions while the
plan is finalized. (See ARB's proposed timeline.)
The Air Resources Board staff also unveiled their list of
proposed initial actions, consisting of only
two items: they hope to adopt the new
lower-carbon fuel standard recently announced by Governor
Schwarzenegger and to ban certain sized containers of
refrigerants used by home mechanics to refill leaky automotive
air conditioning systems.
Staff plans to present a detailed proposal to the ARB in
April, several months before the deadline established by the
global warming law. The California Environmental Protection
Agency also plans to monitor the development of interim
greenhouse gas reduction proposals by other state agencies.
PCL and other environmental advocates expressed concern that
the initial actions suggested by the ARB staff were too narrow
in scope. The environmental community presented recommendations
for additional regulatory measures that the Air Resources Board
and other state agencies should adopt in time to meet the
2010 implementation deadline.
“We were pleased to see the Air Resources Board devote
significant attention to the complicated issues that confront
the people of California as we design our country’s first
statewide greenhouse gas emission reduction program,” said
PCL’s Matt Vander Sluis, “but we would like to work
with the ARB and Cal-EPA staff, and with the Air Board itself,
to help expand their list of interim actions. Prompt and
effective measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are
urgently needed and easily achievable. That means that
concerned residents and businesses across the state should be
asking for a high level of engagement from all state agencies,
to treat global warming as the crisis it truly is. The certainty
of climate change requires a rethinking of past
policies. PCL will be here to help make sure it
happens.”
We’ll let you know more about environmental and state
agency proposals in the weeks ahead!
For more information about the AB 32 process, contact Matt
Vander Sluis at mvander@pcl.org or (916)
313-4515.
STATE PENSION SYSTEM INVESTS IN CALIFORNIA'S LARGEST
PLANNED SPRAWL DEVELOPMENT
Newhall Ranch, where one of the nation's largest homebuilders
plans to construct a 20,000-unit development, sits at the edge
of the Santa Clara River in Southern California, far from the
smog and traffic of the creeping Los Angeles suburbs.
And now you own a share of it. That is, if you are one
of the 1.5 million public employees, retirees, and their
families who are members of California Public Employees'
Retirement System, or CalPERS, the largest pension system in the
United States.
How did you just inherit such a gem? In essence, CalPERS
bought it - and bought into the sprawl development plan.
After posting serious financial losses last quarter, the
homebuilding company Lennar Corporation, and its current
partner, LNR Property Corporation, sold a sixty-two percent
share of the Newhall Ranch Project to MW Housing Partners. MW,
whose clients include CalPERS, purchased the shares for $1.3
billion, making them a key partner in the Lennar/LNR strategic
joint venture, LandSource Communities Development LLC.
Stuart Miller, President and CEO of Lennar, and Jeffrey
Krasnoff, President and CEO of LNR, issued a joint statement on
the purchase. "We are very pleased to expand our partnership to
include MacFarlane Partners and CalPERS. Today's announcement is
a validation of this value creation, as we combine our
respective residential and commercial expertise with the
collective expertise and capital resources of our new partner.
LandSource, building on the unique talent of our Newhall team in
mixed use development, will become a new strategic platform for
opportunistic land acquisition and value creation."
LandSource's "value creation" would destroy nearly 1,500
acres of agricultural land and 140 acres of vital floodplain,
add almost 70,000 people to a sprawl-style development without
any viable transit options, endanger some of the best remaining
riparian woodland in Southern California, increase greenhouse
gas emissions, strain the state's water supply and impair
regional water quality.
CalPERS' investment in Newhall Ranch marks a clear departure
from the four-pronged environmental initiative CalPERS board
members approved unanimously in 2005. The initiative, promoted
by Steve Westly and Phil Angelides in their roles as Controller
and State Treasurer, includes a real estate investment policy
that supports sustainable building principles, investments in
emerging clean technologies, and a commitment to pressure
automakers to design cleaner cars. CalPERS also pledged to
explore global warming and the potential financial risks faced
by companies in its $182.9 billion investment portfolio.
Is the state's largest planned sprawl development in keeping
with CalPERS' environmental initiative? Is it where you want
your retirement savings invested?
If not, contact the CalPERS Board of Administration at (916)
795‑3829, P.O. Box 942701, Sacramento, CA 94229-2701. The
CalPERS Headquarters is located at 400 Q Street in
Sacramento.
Want to get more involved? The Draft Environmental Impact
Report for the first 1,444 houses has been released as is
available for public review and comment until January 31st. It's
a mammoth document and yet it does not contain an adequate
analysis of the project's contribution to global warming or its
impacts on the state's water resources. If you would like to
submit comments on the project contact Charlotte Hodde at chodde@pcl.org or (916)
313-4523 for more information.
GOVERNOR APPOINTS RESPECTED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
ADVOCATE TO BOARD OVERSEEING WATER QUALITY IN CENTRAL
VALLEY
Last Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed community
leader and Environmental Justice activist Sandra Meraz to the
Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The appointment marks a historic shift in California's
largest Regional Water Board, which oversees water quality for
roughly forty percent of the State from the Oregon border to the
northern edge of Los Angeles County.
The Central Valley Regional Board has drawn the ire of
members of the state Legislature, members of the agricultural
community, and residents across California for lax enforcement
and ineffective regulatory policies, as well as for a lack of
representation from low-income communities and communities of
color.
Meraz provides a much-needed counterbalance. Her concern for
public health and environmental protection and her decades of
hands-on technical experience promise to have a direct impact on
the lives of Central Valley residents.
After several decades of community service in her hometown of
Alpaugh, a primarily Latino and extremely low-income area
between Bakersfield and Fresno, Meraz became concerned about the
town's water system, which had nearly twice the legal levels of
arsenic.
In 1998, she was appointed to the local water board by a
Republican County Supervisor and in 2000, she formed Committee
for a Better Alpaugh, a local grassroots community group. Since
that time she has successfully lobbied to bring more than $4
million in State and Federal grants to provide clean water to
her town of approximately 800.
In 1974, Meraz was named Alpaugh Volunteer of the Year. In
2004, the California Legislature named her Woman of the
Year.
We applaud Governor Schwarzenegger's decision to appoint
Meraz and hope the Governor continues to appoint board members
who share Meraz's commitment to protecting the welfare of all
Californians. We look forward to the Administration's support
for Meraz throughout her term.
Visit the official site of the Central Valley Water
Quality Control Board.
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