CEQA and Climate Change: Partnering with Local Agencies to Combat Global Warming. The Urgency of Global Warming

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1 CEQA and Climate Change: Partnering with Local Agencies to Combat Global Warming The Urgency of Global Warming Ken Alex California Attorney General s Office August 7, 2008, Santa Barbara 1

2 Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts A report this summer showed the largest decline of summer Arctic sea ice ever recorded. The decline broke the previous record low (in 2005) by over 450,000 square miles - roughly the size of Texas and California combined 2

3 Lyell Glacier Yosemite National Park F California Climate Impacts (over the past 100 years) ºF 11 F ºF higher temperatures ~7 inch sea level rise 12% decrease in fraction of runoff between April and July Snowmelt and spring blooms advanced 2 days/decade since Cal/EPA-OEHHA, Environmental Protection Indicators for California (2002), 3

4 Global Impacts Water stress for million people in Africa Up to 1 billion people in Asia limited availability of freshwater Increases in malnutrition Increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts Increased incidence of diarrhoeal disease and chlorea Increased frequency of cardio-respiratory diseases due to more smog Extinction of 30% of all species Global security risks refugee crises, violent conflicts, wars California Impacts: Public Health Impacts of Extreme Heat Human mortality may increase due to dehydration, heat stroke, heart attack, and respiratory complications 4

5 Number of Days Bay Area Ozone and Maximum Temp Trends Days at or above 99º F and Days Exceeding National 8hr Ozone Standard 20 # days at or above 99F # days at or above the National Ozone standard (85ppb) Year Highest Smog Levels 6 out of the 10 most polluted areas in the nation are in the Central Valley Bakersfield (2) Visalia (3) Porterville (3) Fresno (4) Merced (6) Sacramento (8) 5

6 Air Pollution Deaths Every 1 C (1.8 F) rise in temperature = 1,000 more deaths per year than normal More than 30% of these deaths will be in California Impacts will be most severe where pollution is already worst Increases in Forest Fires.) 6

7 Pests will increase range and affect the agriculture industry Climate change is likely to increase the areas affected by pests and lengthen their breeding season For example, the pink bollworm, presently only a problem in southern desert valleys, would expand northward Current Projection for Cotton Pink Bollworm Loss Snowpack Reduced hydropower generation in the summer Substantial reductions of water for agriculture Increasing Warming 7

8 Need to Act Now "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future." Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC Arnold Schwarzenegger San Francisco, June 2, 2005 I say the debate is now over. We know the science. We see the threat, and we know the time for action is now. 8

9 California Takes the Lead "Governor Schwarzenegger spoke about the dangers of global warming. Schwarzenegger's exact words were: fire, hot, bad." --Conan O'Brien WHAT ARE THE CURRENT FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS? NONE Except CAFE 9

10 AB to 35% reduction by to 80 percent further reduction by 2050 US Cool Cities 973 Cities (124 in CA) Meet Kyoto Targets of 7% below 1990 by

11 Cities Alameda Cotati Rohnert Park Albany Davis Sacramento Anaheim Los Altos San Diego Arcata Los Angeles San Francisco Berkeley Mission Viejo San Rafael Counties Sonoma County Marin County San Francisco County Brisbane Chula Vista Costa Mesa Novato Oakland Pasadena Petaluma Richmond Santa Barbara Santa Cruz Santa Monica Sebastopol Sonoma San Mateo County Rocklin Stockton Alameda County West Hollywood Windsor Cities & Counties with Climate Action Plans or Green Building Ordinances 11

12 Compact Development Reduces VMT Building Design Matters More than 2/3 of electricity consumption in California is attributed to the residential and commercial sectors 20-30% is lost through inefficiency Transportation Agricultural Residential Mining Industrial Commercial 12

13 Water Conservation Matters Water-related energy use consumes 19+% of California s electricity, 30+% of its natural gas, and 88+ billion gallons of diesel fuel annually. State Water Project is largest single user of electricity in State 2-3% percent LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTION KEY TO SUCCESS 13

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15 The motion has been made and seconded that we stick our heads in the sand. Resources California Climate Change Portal ( Governor s Office of Planning and Research, CEQA Guidelines and Greenhouse Gases: California Attorney General s Office, global warming website: ICLEI, Institute for Local Government, CAPCOA, CEQA and Climate Change, 15