PCL INSIDER: News from the
Capitol
DENIED: REJECTION OF CLEAN CAR WAIVER REQUEST
EARNS BUSH COAL, OIL, NATURAL GAS FOR CHRISTMAS
Yesterday, in a move that is sure to leave
President Bush's stocking dripping with fossil fuel derivatives,
the Bush
Administration denied California's request to implement AB 1493,
which limits greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.
Enforcement of California's law would require a waiver from the
U.S. EPA under the federal Clean Air Act. Bush officials balked
at California's attempt to regulate greenhouse gases and cited
the new federal fuel economy standards in their Santa-baiting
waiver denial.
In just about every other part of the world,
smarter heads prevail. Here are three examples of cities that
are cutting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing their
resilience to global warming impacts (earning them candy canes,
sugar plums, and new socks):
Last week, San
Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom submitted a proposed green building
ordinance to the city's Board of Supervisors for approval.
His proposal would require that new commercial buildings and
some residential buildings comply with the U.S. Green Building
Council's LEED
building standards by 2012.
-
In October, Austin,
Texas adopted a series of code changes that will require all
new single-family homes built in the city to be more efficient
and wired for future solar installation, making them
"zero-energy capable," by 2015.
Doesn't that brighten your holidays? Stay tuned
for more!
IT'S ALIVE! PCL EMPOWERS ACTIVISTS TO TAKE
LOCAL CLIMATE ACTION
Last Thursday, PCL flipped the switch on its new
Local Climate Action Initiative, with an energizing
workshop for a room of powerhouse activists at the City of Santa
Rosa's Environmental Center.
"We were amazed at the turnout for our workshop,
which included some of the founding figures of the environmental
movement in Sonoma County," notes PCL's Global Warming Program
Manager, Matt Vander Sluis. "It was a pleasure to help further
their work with specific techniques they could use to fight
global warming by cutting the carbon footprint of new
developments."
During the workshop, Vander Sluis outlined
promising policy venues, new legal decisions, and critical
campaign strategy tips to build community support and ensure
strong governmental action. For attending, each activist
received a copy of PCL's Local Climate Action Toolkit, which
includes local success stories from across California.
PCL's Executive Director Gary Patton, a former
Santa Cruz County Supervisor, was particularly interested in a
campaign focusing on local land use decisions. As Patton
explains, "each time we allow our local governments to approve
business as usual developments, we're making the global warming
problem worse, digging ourselves deeper into a crisis that
threatens our health, our economy, and our environment. We can
help our elected officials 'stop digging' and start growing
responsibly – if we effectively employ our current suite
of policy tools."
If you'd like to host a Local Climate Action
workshop in your community contact Matt Vander Sluis at mvander@pcl.org or (916)
313-4515. Together we can change the forecast for the planet and
our communities!
YEAR END BRINGS REPRIEVE FOR DELTA, HOPEFUL
VISION FOR THE FUTURE
After years of bad news from the Delta, the final
weeks of 2008 could mark a new beginning for the largest estuary
on the West Coast.
The first waves of change came out of Fresno on
Friday, when Judge Wanger of the U.S. District Court issued his
final
order requiring State and Federal agencies to stop killing
delta smelt during key periods of the year. This latest
decision, specifying how his initial ruling earlier this year
will be implemented, ensures that endangered smelt have a
fighting chance to avoid extinction. Specifically, the order
requires the following:
-The California Department of Water Resources and
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation must change their operations to
reduce their massive diversions of water from the Delta.
-Both agencies must increase monitoring for delta
smelt near their water pumps.
-The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service must issue a
new, more protective permit (Biological Opinion) for Delta smelt
and Delta water exports by September 15, 2008.
The historic decision sparked a broad array of
reactions (see the Fish
Sniffer Online and the Fresno
Bee). However, the most important review, the reaction of
the delta smelt, will not be in until next year, when fishing
surveys will determine whether the delta smelt and other Delta
species are able to inch back from the brink of extinction.
While the court decision provides much needed
relief for the Delta in the short term, there’s also new
hope for the long-term future of the Delta.
This Monday, the Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon
Task Force released
their final report, which proposes comprehensive actions to
restore and protect the unique resources of the Delta.
In contrast to previous backroom deals affecting
the Delta like the controversial Monterey
Amendments to the State Water Project contracts, the Task
Force prepared their report in an open public process with input
from a wide variety of stakeholders.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force called for a package of
twelve “integrated and linked” actions to achieve
long-term sustainability, including assurances that
“sufficient water is provided to support the Delta
estuarine ecosystem” and that “the policies
affecting diversions throughout the Delta watershed protect
needed flows.”
As part of the Delta Vision stakeholder advisory
group, PCL’s Jonas Minton strongly urged the Task Force to
focus on real solutions for water reliability and to prioritize
getting more information on how much water the Delta needs to be
healthy. The Blue Ribbon Task Force responded laudably; the
final report recognizes that California can meet water needs
through increased implementation of regional water
self-sufficiency, and specifically states that maintaining
sufficient water flows for the ecosystem requires “likely
reductions in the amount of water taken out of the Delta
watershed.”
Read other reactions to the Taskforce report from
Governor
Schwarzenegger, the Winnemem Wintu tribe, California
Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Metropolitan Water
District and Westlands Water
District.
The forecast for the Delta looks somewhat
sunny. We’ll see if conditions actually improve in
the new year. Stay tuned!
THREE MORE WEEKS BEFORE PCL'S ANNUAL
ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPOSIUM – MAKE THE CONNECTION!
You and your organization are important to us!
That's why we're providing lots of opportunities to network with
PCL staff, PCL board members, environmental allies, and decision
makers from across California at our annual Environmental
Legislative Symposium on January 12th at the Sacramento
Convention Center.
Because relationships are so important, we're also
bringing in Joe Edmiston (Santa Monica
Mountains Conservancy) and Garry Brown (Orange
County Coastkeeper) for a Symposium workshop on "How To? Build
Better Relationships with Agencies."
If local government is more your bag, you might
enjoy a workshop with Richard Taylor (Shute
Mihaly and Weinberger) and Terry Watt (Terrell
Watt Planning Consultants) that will describe how to develop
state of the art policies and programs to address the hazards
associated with extreme climate change while advancing
development strategies that will help the climate recover.
Join our panel on "General Plans – Centerpieces of Local
Strategies for Climate Recovery, Water Conservation and Safe
Land Uses."
We're approaching capacity, so register
today!
If the text of your PCL Insider does
not display correctly (some readers have reported problems with
the text not "wrapping" within the message window), please try
accessing the current newsletter from our website: http://action.nwf.org/pcl/home.html.
Recent newsletters and action alerts are posted at the bottom of
the page.
|
