Comment Log Display

 
September 21, 2010
Mary Nichols, Chairman
California Air Resources Board
1001 “I” Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
 
Re: Proposed regional greenhouse gas targets for SB 375
 
Dear Chairman Nichols and California Air Resources Board Members:
 
Thank you for your efforts to implement SB 375, California’s
Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act. If implemented
properly, SB 375 can result in communities that are sustainable,
equitable, and healthier. It can ensure cleaner air; cleaner water;
reduced rates of lung disease, obesity, asthma, and other chronic
illnesses; more walkable neighborhoods and safer routes for walking
and biking; protected natural areas and flourishing farms and ranch
lands; and greater access to housing and transportation choices for
all communities throughout California.
 

We live in Anderson Valley, a rural agricultural area in Northern
California and are very concerned about our future with greater and
greater traffic on the highway that bisects our valley, degraded
water supplies, and increasingly industrial farming.  I work with
groups that support sustainable agriculture in Mendocino County and
am president of the Anderson Valley Land Trust Board, though I am
not directly speaking for those organdizations.
 
As the first, target-setting phase of SB 375 implementation comes
to a close, we encourage the Board to finalize the draft greenhouse
gas proposed in the August 9, 2010 ARB staff report. These
achievable targets reflect the best expertise of transportation and
planning experts from regions around the state.
 
We also ask that the ARB commit to providing the ongoing guidance
necessary to ensure that SB 375 implementation achieves its goals.
We hope that ARB will provide guidance to help regions measure
progress on the full range of potential benefits, including better
air and water quality and more economic opportunity for all our
residents.
 
Finally, we strongly urge ARB to identify resources for
implementing SB 375. Local governments, transportation agencies and
redevelopment agencies are key partners in SB 375 implementation,
and all face unprecedented financial challenges in the current
economic and fiscal climate. Please work to identify and secure
resources for these needs, in partnership with state agencies and
bodies such as the Strategic Growth Council and the State
Legislature, as well as well as federal agencies and the national
Sustainable Communities Partnership.
 
We are grateful for the time and energy put forth by the Air
Resources Board, and by the many elected officials and regional
agencies that have also contributed. Thank you.
 
Sincerely,

Barbara Goodell