Reduce Global Warming: Work for Strong Implementation of AB 32

Global warming: we've seen An Inconvenient Truth, and are already witnessing drought, water shortages, horrific fires, and no snow in the east coast, not to mention the melting polar ice caps, with flooding and refugee crises to come.

Given these dire possibilities, what can one person do?

Sierra Club members in LA can join the Angeles Chapter's Global Warming, Energy and Air Quality Committee, which is working hard to stop climate change in its tracks, or at least slow it down. In addition to participating in the Club's national Cool Cities campaign, we are working specifically for strong enforcement of California's global warming law. AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act, seeks to reduce state greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, which requires a 25% cut from current trends.

You may not realize - I certainly didn't - that just because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed this landmark global warming law in 2006, that doesn't mean our state will automatically cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. No - state regulatory agencies still have to decide exactly how to implement this law. They could water it down and delay enforcement, or they can implement it swiftly and strongly.

And that's where we come in. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is now holding meetings on implementation, and our Angeles chapter Global Warming E&AQ Committee has been writing letters and testifying at hearings to voice the will of the public. We work with the Club's lobbyist on global warming issues, Bill Magavern, who from his Sacramento base lets us know Club positions on proposals ranging from reducing methane gas emissions from landfills to favoring cool automobile paint and truck stop electrification and green ships. We want to show CARB and the Governor that it's not just a single lobbyist voicing concerns, but that there is massive popular support for curbing greenhouse gases now.

In June, members of the Angeles Chapter testified at a meeting on 'early actions,' the first rules that CARB will enact to carry out AB 32. The air board was recommending only three early actions. We let that board know that three was paltry and puny, and called for more and stronger measures NOW. Recently CARB responded to us and others by adding six more actions.

The Angeles Chapter Committee also is supporting implementation of AB 1493. About half of the cuts called for in AB 32 would come from this law, which requires vehicle makers to reduce average CO2 emissions from cars sold in California by 30% by 2016. Although this tailpipe emission control measure passed in 2002, automakers are suing to stop it in a Fresno court. We've joined with Union of Concerned Scientists and other environmental groups to petition auto companies to drop their suit, and to pressure the Federal EPA to grant California the waiver it needs to implement 1493 (that issue may have been settled by the time you read this article.)

In addition, we are helping stop 5,000 megawatts of new natural gas power plants for which the industry is seeking permits in L.A., including a plant in Vernon, which raises serious environmental justice issues. Also, we heard a presentation by Sherry Boschert about her new book: PLUG-IN HYBRIDS: THE CARS THAT WILL RECHARGE AMERICA and we recommended successfully that that our Chapter offices go carbon neutral.

If nothing is done to slow global warming, the National Academy of Sciences predicts that the Sierra snow pack - crucial to California's water supply - could decline between 70 and 90 percent by 2100 (See http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sb/Oct-2004/4-Hot-California.html.) Other studies predict that the state's agriculture will be drastically curtailed, and that half our state's Alpine forest will disappear by 2100.

But you can help prevent these calamities by coming to meetings of the Global Warming E&AQ Committee on the second Thursday of the month at 7 pm. Our next meeting is on January 10. Attend at the chapter offices or participate by free telephone conference call.

Keep up with the global warming and renewable energy activities of Sierra Club California by email, by going to http://lists.sierraclub.org/archives/CONS-CNRCC-ENERGY-NEWS.html and clicking on 'Join or leave the list.' You can also join by sending the following email: CONS-CNRCC-ENERGY-NEWS-subscribe-request@lists.sierraclub.org. To receive meeting notices and alerts, or if you've got questions, feel free to email Jim Stewart, committee chair at Jim@EarthDayLA.org.