You’re Invited: CARB Scoping Plan Mobilization in Sacramento 6/23

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) just released its draft 2022 Scoping Plan, a blueprint for California’s climate policy for the next 20 years. The draft plan is a huge step backward for California, doubling down on fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when we need to be phasing out fossil fuels. CARB are planning for a massive expansion of dirty gas-fired power plants and paving the way for billions in public subsidies for risky, ineffective carbon capture and storage machinery that extends the life of oil refineries.

On June 23 at 9am, CARB will be meeting to discuss this year’s Scoping Plan. We need a strong showing of community support to show CARB that Californians are standing up for clean air, clean and reliable transportation for all, and a future beyond oil and gas.

At the rally, speakers from the California Environmental Justice Alliance and Regenerate California will be calling for the following demands to be in the Scoping Plan:

No Fossil Fuels: Phase Out Oil Drilling and Refining
Clean Our Power Sector: No New Gas Plants
Clean, healthy transportation for all
Electrify all buildings
No Climate Dead Ends – Stop Over-Relying on CCS and Hydrogen

Use the form on this page to sign up and we’ll follow up instructions on how to join!

Can’t make it in-person on June 23rd? Sign up for more action-taking opportunities and to watch the rally virtually.

Comment period extended: Draft 2022 Progress Report on California’s Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act is now available for public review and comment through July 14, 2022

California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff released a draft report and associated data dashboard on implementation of California’s Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (Senate Bill 375) for public review and comment on June 7, 2022.

The public comment period on the draft report and associated data dashboard has been extended and staff will now be accepting comments through July 14, 2022.

Please submit your comments and any questions on the document and/or data to sustainablecommunities[at]arb[dot]ca[dot]gov.

Download Draft Report Here

Home Energy Savings Expo plus Electric Vehicle Ride and Drive, June 25

June 25, 2022 — 10:00am to 4:00pm
The Center at District56, 8230 Civic Center Drive

Learn how to save money and reduce emissions!
Kid activities
Experts talk about sustainable landscaping
Test drive and receive a free lunch voucher
Information on:
- Financing options
- Induction stoves
- The benefits of trees and the Free Shade Tree program
- Sustainable landscaping
- Solar installation and battery storage
- Whole house fans
- Energy efficient appliances

More details at https://www.elkgrovecity.org/visitors/things_to_do/special_events/home_energy_savings_expo

An evening with Charles Marohn, founder & author of Strong Towns – Thursday, June 16

An event for Sac Valley Section APA members and the Sacramento area community!

Strong Towns is a nonprofit advocating for a new way to think about how our cities are built. The movement’s founder and author of Strong Town series, Charles Marohn, joins us in Sacramento on June 16 to discuss key ideas in his new book, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, and Strong Towns’ vision for financially resilient transportation systems.

You won’t want to miss this! Learn how the values of engineers and other transportation professionals are applied in the design process, and how those priorities differ from the values of the general public. Marohn will reveal how the standard approach to issues like fighting congestion, addressing speeding, and designing intersections only makes transportation problems worse, at great cost in terms of both safety and resources.

This event provides 1 CM credit: https://bit.ly/3t41iyw

Event Details

Thursday, June 16, 2022, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Location: Citrus Heights Community Center, 6300 Fountain Square Drive, Citrus Heights, CA 95620

Light refreshments will be provided.

Cost: $10 per person – All proceeds from tickets will be donated to SVS and local partner scholarship programs.

Chuck Morohn will also be speaking that morning at the SACOG Board meeting https://sacog.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?compiledMeetingDocumentFileId=5424 during Item 14 – Workshop: https://sacog.primegov.com/meetings/ItemWithTemplateType?id=2275&meetingTemplateType=2 and https://sacog.primegov.com/portal/item?id=2275

Support for the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Authority’s (CGA) Demand Management and Multi-Benefit Recharge Projects and Actions to Achieve

On June 14, 2022, ECOS submitted a letter of support for the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Authority’s (CGA) Demand Management and multi-benefit recharge projects and actions to achieve.

Below is the content of the letter.

Subject: Support for the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Authority’s (CGA) Demand Management and Multi-Benefit Recharge Projects and Actions to Achieve
We understand that CGA is working to secure funding for implementation of the multi-benefit recharge and demand management Projects and Actions identified in the CGA Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP).
ECOS appreciates CGA’s initiative to make progress towards basin sustainability, environmental uplift, and shallow well protection.
If a letter of support from ECOS will be of value in assisting CGA in obtaining grant funding for these Projects and Actions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are committed to support environmentally beneficial efforts to return the Cosumnes subbasin to sustainability.
We note that the amount of annual groundwater pumping in the subbasin is based on estimates because of the low number of wells with actual pumping metered data available to the GSAs. Given the current condition of the subbasin and the need to rely in part on demand management to reach sustainability, we support efforts to increase the number of metered wells and other actions the GSAs pursue to improve the reliability and accuracy of groundwater pumping information utilized in the management of the Cosumnes subbasin.
We also appreciate the development of the CGA Citizen Advisory Committee. We have identified ECOS representative Neil Dubrovsky to serve on the committee. Neil has extensive groundwater expertise and experience and is particularly familiar with public sources of groundwater monitoring data that may prove useful as projects are developed.
ECOS recognizes the ongoing, complex effects of climate change on the environment and people
in the Cosumnes and Greater Sacramento regions, and California as a whole. We believe that action is needed now and that time is of the essence. Collaborative efforts that address both demand management and multi-benefit recharge, as well as implementation of real time monitoring networks, offer the best chance for timely improvements to basin sustainability, environmental uplift, and shallow well protection.
We look forward to working with CGA in its journey toward returning the Cosumnes subbasin to sustainability.

Click here to view the letter in full.

Q&A with Alberto Ayala, Director of Sacramento’s Air Quality District, SacTown Magazine, June 4, 2022

Alberto Ayala discusses “the growing threat of wildfire smoke, the urgent need to move away from fossil fuel engines, the “scary” results from a new study about the impact of air pollution on our brain health, and why we need to rethink transportation as we plan for a better post-pandemic world.”

On transportation:

“I wrote an essay five years ago, in which I pointed out that of the 40 biggest cities in the country, Sacramento and Las Vegas were the only two without any protected bike lanes and with no imminent plans to build them, whereas cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago were racing to build hundreds of miles of protected bike lanes. And now five years later, we’re not much better off. And for reasons I don’t completely understand, the city just has not made that a priority when clearly, active transportation like biking and walking is going to be one of the ways that we move toward cleaner air. . . [and] where is the investment in transit? And how are we helping our public transit be the innovative transit of the future where you actually meet the needs of transportation for people?”

On the difference between ozone pollution and particle pollution:

“In Sacramento, like most urban regions, the most chronically difficult pollution problem is ozone pollution, not so much particle pollution, but clearly wildfires are changing that. Particle pollution is the smoke that you see from something like a wildfire, or the soot that comes out of a diesel truck. That black smoke is essentially a collection of these particles that come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Ozone pollution, in contrast, is the result of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic emissions often from the combustion of fossil fuels—fuel that burns in an internal combustion engine like in a gasoline car. In the presence of sunlight, they basically cook up in the atmosphere, and then they lead to ozone, also known as smog. So the difference is here we’re talking about gases, not particles.”

Click here to read the full article.