Federal Inflation Reduction Act funding to fight climate impacts. How can IRA funding benefit the City and County of Sacramento?

Topic: Climate Impacts of Federal Legislation

Three new major federal climate laws – what are the climate impacts? What funding might benefit the City and County of Sacramento?

On Monday, November 14, Citizens’ Climate Lobby hosted a talk by Dana Nuccitelli to learn about climate legislation passed in the past year and what’s next.

This Congress has passed three major pieces of climate legislation.

What is in the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) that will help reduce emissions locally and could affect the Sacramento CAP (County) and CAAP (City)?

For renewable energy to reach its potential we need a stronger, better electric grid. The presentation will discuss needed future legislation to build the grid – and some of the possible trade offs.

Speaker:

Dana Nuccitelli is an environmental scientist and climate journalist with a Master’s Degree in physics. He has written about climate change since 2010 for Skeptical Science, for The Guardian from 2013 to 2018, and since 2018 for Yale Climate Connections. In 2015 he published the book ‘Climatology versus Pseudoscience’, and he has also authored ten peer-reviewed climate studies, including a 2013 paper that found a 97% consensus among peer-reviewed climate science research that humans are the primary cause of global warming. Dana is a Research Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Education.

Click here to watch the recording.

ECOS Comments on Sacramento City Transportation Priorities Plan (TPP)

On November 15, 2022, ECOS submitted a letter to the City of Sacramento regarding their currently proposed Transportation Priorities Plan (TPP).

ECOS supports the currently proposed Transportation Priorities Plan (TPP) and the level of public engagement it represents. We ask the City Council to approve the TPP as the first step and move quickly to the following: The High Priority projects should be packaged separately. A supporting narrative should be written to put these projects in the larger planning context of the City and region, to describe how they further the goals of the Sacramento BLUEPRINT, the required reduction of greenhouse gas emissions following SB375, and CARB’s emissions reduction target for the SACOG region; and how they improve mobility, safety, and quality of life for Sacramento citizens.

The package, the narrative, and validated cost estimate (we understand it is about $250M) should be taken to Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration, to ask for advice in accessing federal funding such as Inflation Reduction Act funds to proceed with the work. Let us know if we can help in this.

Thank you for considering our support of the TPP and our suggestion for follow-on steps.

Recording and Presentation Posted for the First Water Bank Stakeholder Forum

The Regional Water Authority (RWA) has launched a public engagement process for the Sacramento Regional Water Bank, an innovative groundwater storage program utilizing the expansive reservoir under the urban core for storing water during wet times for use during dry times.

Materials and the presentation from the first Stakeholder Forum, held October 26, 2022, are now available online and can be found here.

The goal of the Water Bank public engagement process is to share information, answer questions and gather input about how a Water Bank could be operated and expanded in the Sacramento region.

The first Stakeholder Forum explored key topic areas such as water sources and management in the Sacramento region; projected impacts of climate change on the region’s water resources; how water banking works; how a Water Bank could help the region adapt to climate change; and other topics. Future Stakeholder Forums will cover Water Bank principles and governance, defining and refining operational alternatives, and scoping for an environmental analysis.

RWA is planning several Stakeholder Forums over the next 15 months with the next Forum expected to take place in early 2023. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to the Project Team to learn more about the Water Bank and ask questions.

You can reach the Project Team at waterbankinfo[at]rwah2o[dot]org.

Updates about the engagement process will be posted to rwah2o.org/waterbankengage.

Measure A, Not OK

November 1, 2022

Measure A is a 40-year half-cent sales tax increase that would cost Sacramento County taxpayers $8.5 billion — while failing to deliver on its basic promises. It was written by special interests, for special interests

What are the problems with Measure A? Check out the Measure A, Not Ok website at https://measureanotok.org/.

You can watch their videos on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCauvi5dp1idaph1cISHBZmQ.

Here are their social media accounts.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeasureANotOK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/measureanotok

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/measureanotok/

First Student Housing Transit Oriented Development Holds Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

November 3, 2022

SacRT and the Martin Group held a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday to celebrate the grand opening of the Wexler, a new student housing transit-oriented development (TOD) project located adjacent to SacRT’s University/65th Street Transit Center.

SacRT sold the property in November 2019, marking SacRT’s first TOD property sale and the first student housing TOD in the Sacramento region. The project also reconstructed the SacRT bus stops on 67th and Q Street to improve the connection to the light rail Station. SacRT received $2 million from the sale proceeds, to reinvest into the system.

Wexler is a 223 unit, 760+ bed student housing project with 7,450 square feet of ground floor retail. The property is located less than a block south of Sacramento State, adjacent to one of SacRT’s busiest transit centers and light rail stations, which is utilized by more than 40,000 light rail riders and 30,000 bus riders per month, and just steps away from nearby retail centers. The strategic, transit-oriented location affords residents easy connectivity to the surrounding Sacramento region.

Learn more about SacRT’s TOD projects at sacrt.com/realestate. Learn more about Wexler at wexlerliving.com.

Media Contact:
Jessica Gonzalez, SacRT
916-662-0342
jgonzalez[at]sacrt[dot]com