Tag Archives: Air Quality

Residents Invited to View City’s Initial ‘Transportation Priorities Plan’ at These Two Meetings

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August 17, 2022 – From the City Express, the news website for the City of Sacramento government

The City of Sacramento has reached phase two of its Transportation Priorities Plan and unveiled the initial project prioritization. Community members are invited to two virtual meetings on Aug. 24 and 27 to learn more and provide feedback.

The Department of Public Works in 2021 began working on the first-of-its-kind priorities plan and engaged communities to hear about their transportation values and gather input on recommendations.

“When it comes to investing in transportation, we wanted to know what matters most to Sacramento’s communities,” Transportation Planning Manager Jennifer Donlon Wyant said. “The input in phase one has allowed us to conduct the initial prioritization of the over 700 approved transportation projects in the City.”

Throughout 2021 and in early 2022, staff engaged communities through virtual gatherings, surveys, a youth-focused program and meetings with local organizations.

In March 2022, City Council adopted a set of criteria and process to prioritize the transportation investments based on those community values. This prioritization is needed because there are many transportation needs and the majority of transportation funding is from competitive grants, officials said.

It is estimated the City would need about $5 billion to complete all of the identified transportation improvements and maintenance projects.

The criteria approved by Council include: improve air quality, climate and health; provide equitable investment; provide access to destinations; improve transportation safety; and fix and maintain the transportation system.

Staff used this criteria to prioritize approved transportation projects. Projects that best meet community values are considered high priority projects. Medium priority are projects that meet some community values but not all. Lower priority projects do not align well with community values for transportation investment.

“As we move into phase two, we’re excited and ready to share the initial prioritization and hear from our communities,” Donlon Wyant said.

Residents can learn more about the initial prioritization and share input in many ways.

  • Register for a virtual gathering session (6 p.m. Aug. 24 or 10 a.m. Aug. 27)
  • Complete a comment form, available in multiple languages
  • Provide feedback on an online map, available in multiple languages
  • Meet the team at community events across the city throughout August

Release of Preliminary Public Review Draft of the Sacramento Climate Action Plan

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From the City of Sacramento:

The Community Development Department is pleased to announce the release of the preliminary public review draft of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) on July 1, 2022.

This document will be circulated for a 30-day period, several months ahead of the release of the full Draft Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, Draft 2040 General Plan and Draft Master Environmental Impact Report this fall, which will be circulated for 45 days. This approach will allow the community to have advanced review and provide comments on the draft measures to reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. The document is posted on the project webpage and can be found directly here.

Following release of the preliminary public review draft Climate Action Plan, the Sacramento City Council will hold a workshop to discuss additional potential actions that can be taken to achieve carbon neutrality in advance of the CAP’s target date of 2045. This City Council workshop is scheduled for August 16, 2022.

Submit comments on the preliminary draft Climate Action Plan (from July 1 to July 30).

Contact staff
Email: cap[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org
Sign up to receive updates from the Office of Climate Action and Sustainability
Sign up to receive updates on the Sacramento 2040 General Plan and Climate Action Plan

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

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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.

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

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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.

Letter to SacCounty Supervisors re Air Quality from ECOS, 350 Sac, CCL, and Sierra Club

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June 10, 2022

ECOS, 350 Sacramento, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Sacramento, and Sierra Club Sacramento Group have submitted a letter to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors regarding the quality of the air in our region. With this letter, we urged the Board to discuss air quality as an agenda item in an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting, and to develop actions to address the issues raised in the American Lung Association report referenced in our letter.

Below is an excerpt.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors should support policies that reduce emissions by encouraging walking- biking- and transit-based communities. Most critically, the Board needs to exercise its land use authority to shift priorities from sprawl development to infill to support these modes of transportation and reduce vehicle miles traveled. This would decrease automobile exhaust, the largest source of local ozone and particulate pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Click here to read the letter in full.

Join us Thursday Jun 9 at 6 pm for ECOS Climate Committee

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What local jurisdictions can do about climate change

Featuring Dr. Alberto Ayala, Director of Sacramento’s Air Quality District

Agenda

6:00: Welcome and Introductions

6:10: Alberto Ayala, Director of Sacramento’s Air Quality District, will discuss clean air & climate actions.
Alberto Ayala is the Executive Officer of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (AQMD), and former Deputy Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board. Last month, Alberto noted that we are making progress in tackling air and climate pollution, although climate change has exacerbated nearby wildfires and smoke.

The AQMD has been active in several efforts to reduce air pollution — that also reduce our climate change impact. Whether or not we see good Climate Action Plans this summer from Sacramento City and County, these efforts show that local jurisdictions can do a lot to deal with climate change:
• Cool Roofs, Walls, and Pavements
• Trees and Vegetation
• Zero-Emission Vehicles, and Charging Stations
• Solar Photovoltaic Parking Lots
• Infill Development
• Climate Resilience for Under-Served Communities; especially Trees!

Alberto will also discuss health impacts of near-road pollution on under-served communities, and what we’re doing.
[See Alberto’s recent Sactown Magazine interview: www.sactownmag.com/qa-alberto-ayala-sacramento-air-quality]

6:50 Transportation Team Report
John Deeter, Team Chair

7:00: Land Use Committee Report

7:10: Green Building Committee Report

Updates:
7:20: Transportation Measure for November Ballot & SACOG
7:30: Climate Action Plans

7:45: Adjourn

Click here for the agenda in PDF.