Monthly Archives: August 2020

a red sunset

Smoke still hurting Northern California air quality, but LNU Fire isn’t main culprit

By Michael McGough | August 31, 2020 | The Sacramento Bee

Smoke has sullied the skies in Northern California for two weeks, ever since dozens of large fires and hundreds of smaller ones sparked during a powerful thunderstorm that brought down thousands of lightning strikes.

For much of that stretch, Sacramento’s air pollution has come primarily from the LNU Lightning Complex, which as of Monday had scorched more than 375,000 acres in parts of Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Yolo and Lake counties west of the capital. That fire continues to output smoke as it is 63% contained, Cal Fire said Monday morning.

But now the poor conditions are coming from the August Complex, a 220,000-acre blaze that’s been burning in the Mendocino National Forest since Aug. 17, according to a special smoke statement issued Sunday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the mid Central Valley, which has since been extended through Tuesday.

Click here to read the full article.

Photo by enakshi mukhopadhyaya from Pexels

Give Your Input on the Sac County Climate Action Plan

Posted: August 31, 2020 by Sacramento County

Current Deadline: September 25, 2020

Sacramento County Communitywide Climate Action Plan Update
Work is resuming on the Communitywide Climate Action Plan (CAP) in earnest! County staff has developed an ambitious schedule to bring the CAP to the Board of Supervisors by July 2021. Following the extensive public outreach conducted from 2016-2018, a focused stakeholder group has been formed to work with the County and our consultant Ascent Environmental on drafting GHG reduction and carbon sequestration measures based on all the feedback received.

Staff’s goal is the successful and timely adoption of an implementable CAP that provides meaningful and equitable climate action, enhances resiliency and provides a transparent and public pathway for future plan performance and adaptive management.

Be Involved

Although County staff previously conducted extensive outreach from 2016-2018, we want to provide another opportunity for additional public input since two years have passed and new ideas may be out there. Please submit written suggestions on topics to be covered in the CAP, new ideas in greenhouse gas mitigation, or other thoughts to climateactionplan[at]saccounty[dot]net by September 25, 2020. Presentations from past public workshops and Board of Supervisors meetings that give examples of some of the concepts under consideration are available at https://planning.saccounty.net/PlansandProjectsIn-Progress/Pages/CAP.aspx.

What’s Next?

The County and Ascent will prepare revised GHG reduction measures and develop a draft CAP document over the next two to three months.

When the draft CAP document is complete, it will be published for a 30-day public review period during which the County plans to host a virtual public meeting. Information regarding the date and time will be provided as that time draws closer.

Stay Informed

We encourage interested parties to subscribe to the CAP topic to stay informed and receive future status updates.

Please! Attend Thursday’s public hearing on Aggie Square

August 2020

At 5pm on Thursday, September 3, 2020, UC Davis is holding a Zoom public hearing on the Aggie Square Supplemental Environmental Impact Report. We need you to register online and briefly express your concern about community displacement and related issues as Aggie Square is built out.  

If you can attend, please register now. You must register prior to the hearing.

Register here: https://ucdavisfoa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8Ij6K0WSQDW_Ho0pgtbWzg

Hearing is: Thursday, September 3, 2020 starting at 5:00 p.m. online via Zoom webinar.

For a link to Thursday’s public hearing and the full Supplemental EIR, please go to: https://environmentalplanning.ucdavis.edu/sacramento

We are also encouraging written comments be sent to UC Davis prior to its comment deadline on Sept 16.

Community Concerns that YOU can bring up on Thursday, Sep. 3rd:

  • Displacement of families.
  • A commitment from UC Davis to implement a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).
  • Access to affordable housing on & near Aggie Square
  • Local hiring for community members living in zip codes 95817-24 and those displaced in last five years; job application support and streamlining; ‘ban the box’ for offenders.
  • Local business protections and support, local business purchasing, and a focus on improving existing commercial corridors without neglecting neighborhood-serving commercial.
  • Environmental protections and improvements, including policies to support clean air and safe and healthy lighting.
  • Transit-oriented development serving those with highest likelihood of using public transit
  • Support and programs to keep neighborhood youth in schools; high-school and community college student job opportunities with mentoring, school-to-job pipeline; safe homework space and assistance.
  • Anti-demolition policies and procedures to protect homes in surrounding neighborhoods
  • An increase in the number of MediCal recipients seen at UC Davis from surrounding neighborhood

Click here to learn more about Aggie Square and ECOS’s involvement: https://www.ecosacramento.net/aggie-square-ucd-med-center-in-sacramento/

Sacramento City Council embraces ‘slow streets,’ electrified buildings to fight climate change

August 26, 2020

Members of the Sacramento City Council Tuesday embraced the recommendations of the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change and voted to move forward immediately on 10 first-year action items, including creating ‘slow streets’ for pedestrians and people-pedaled vehicles only and crafting an ordinance to require future buildings to run entirely on electricity.

Click here to read the full blog post from Mayor Steinberg’s office.