On June 26, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento submitted a letter to the City of Sacramento asking for the City’s support for the recommendations made by the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change.
Category Archives: ECOS comment letters
Sacramento County Early Action Planning Grant Support
On June 1, 2020, the Sierra Club Sacramento Group, 350 Sacramento and the Environmental Council of Sacramento sent a letter to the County of Sacramento encouraging the County to apply for an “Early Action Planning” grant.
We encourage the County to apply for the subject non-competitive grant as recommended by staff. The grant would fund mandated and non-mandated planning activities related to meeting the County’s housing needs.
We particularly support the proposed Infill Program planning, which would identify, assess, and seek to remove barriers to developing infill opportunities in the unincorporated County. According to the County’s annual General Plan Report for 2019, development of vacant and underutilized land, and revitalization of commercial corridors could provide about 33 thousand new housing units in the unincorporated area.
Implementing Vehicle Miles Traveled Guidelines
On May 26, 2020, ECOS joined other organizations in sending a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom in response to requests from some parties to postpone the implementation of SB 743 (2013). Environmental groups urge the Governor to not further delay the implementation of this very important statute.
Click here to read the letter.
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.
Funding Sacramento County’s Climate Action Plan
On May 12, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, 350 Sacramento and the Sierra Club Sacramento Group sent a letter to Sacramento County with concerns about funding the County’s Climate Action Plan.
We are gratified that on April 7, the Board of Supervisors directed staff to proceed with work on the County’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). However, we are concerned that the fiscal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic could make it difficult to include the CAP work, of approximately $300,000 disbursed over two fiscal years, in the County’s FY 20-21 budget.
Click here to read the letter in full.
On May 27, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, 350 Sacramento and the Sierra Club Sacramento Group sent a response letter to Sacramento County with concerns about funding the County’s Climate Action Plan.
Thank you for your prompt response to our May 12 letter on CAP funding. We appreciate your efforts to secure funding for the CAP. As reported at the County’s May 24, 2017 CAP workshop, most of the work (then $267,060 contract and $431,300 staff) was to have been funded by Long Range Planning fees. However, your response indicated funding from development project applicants instead. It isn’t clear if these are only applicants currently in the entitlement process; if so we have the following concerns.
Click here to read the letter in full.
Photo by Ron Reiring via flickr.
Putting Vehicle Miles Traveled Guidelines Into Action
On May 26, 2020 the Environmental Council of Sacramento joined a large coalition of organizations in sending a letter to the Governor of California urging our state to move forward in implementing the Vehicle Miles Traveled guidelines for transportation impact analysis per Senate Bill 743 (2013).
We, the undersigned organizations, are grateful for the decisive actions you’ve taken to protect Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 and know that difficult choices will need to be made. We are aware that there are requests from some parties to postpone the implementation of SB 743 (2013); we urge you to not further delay the implementation of this very important statute.
COVID-19 has created an economic crisis for California, and the magnitude of the challenges ahead for our state’s recovery are immense, but postponing implementation of SB 743 would be a mistake. Rather, expeditious implementation of SB 743 is now all the more important to ensure a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future for California.
Click here to read the letter in full.
Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via Pxhere
ECOS/Habitat 2020 Concerns with Latest Delta Tunnel Plan
On April 17, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) and Habitat 2020 submitted our comments, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), on the latest iteration of the Delta Conveyance Project.
Our concerns include the following:
- Project needs to be defined clearly
- Appropriate alternatives must be considered for the project as a whole
- Appropriate Alternatives must be considered for infrastructure components
- Impact of mechanically assisted flows in the tunnels need to be analyzed
- Analysis needs to assume that all Reusable Tunnel Material (RTM) will need to be disposed, rather than repurposed
- Accurate transportation impacts must be provided
- Impacts to Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge need to be avoided
- The full impacts of transmission lines need to be included
- Transmission line strikes need to be analyzed for foraging Sandhill Cranes
Click here to read our letter in full.
Photo above by Osha Meserve
