Comment Log Display

Dear friends-

Thank you for all your great work.  

With climate change impacts accelerating and with no significant
reduction in our carbon pollution trajectory globally, your efforts
are essential to leading the way to a safe and secure future for
humanity. The evidence is growing.

o	The earth is heating up.  The last decade, 2000-2009 was the
warmest on record.  December 2009 to November 2010 is the warmest
12 month period on record.  Despite the cold weather in parts of
Europe and in California, November 2010 was the warmest on record.

o	There have been a record number of record-breaking extreme and
deadly weather events around the world this past year according to
Munich Re, the largest reinsurance company, with huge human and
societal costs.  

o	The Arctic ice was at its lowest volume ever at the end of the
2010 summer, allowing for increased positive feedbacks that warm
the ocean and the atmosphere even further while also threatening
the survival of iconic Arctic species such as the polar bear. 

o	Sea levels are already rising and new projections show the
potential for more than 6 feet of sea level rise by 2100, not
including effects of storm surges and El Nino thermal expansion
which can raise levels even higher and cause more damage to human
infrastructure.  New studies show that wave heights have increased
significantly over the past 25 years  on the West Coast.

o	Oceans are becoming more acidic and one new study show that
Estuaries, such as the San Francisco Bay, may be vulnerable to even
greater impacts from acidification, ecologically and economically. 
Warming of the surface layers of the ocean are implicated in what
scientists report to be a 40% decline globally in phytoplankton,
the tiny floating plants that transform the sun's energy into food
energy and produce half the oxygen we breathe. 

o	Temperatures in the American West are rising 2 times faster than
the rest of the world and extreme drought is projected over the
decades ahead based on multiple climate change scenarios. 

o	The dust-bowlification of California and the West has already
begun with increased warming and decreased permanent snow pack. For
example, Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was first filled
in the 1930s, due in part to our warmer world.  The subtropical
zones and the jet streams have already shifted poleward in both
hemispheres, dramatically shifting weather patterns.  New studies
project that severe drought may be the norm within the next couple
of decades in the Southwest.  

The challenges of climate change to humanity and the ecosystems we
all depend upon for clear air, fresh water, food, flood control,
carbon sequestration and much more, are being observed and
documented.  There is no time to lose.  

The air board should not give away carbon credits for free to
polluters. Carbon fees are one of the single most important
incentives for reducing emissions. In addition, any offsets allowed
should be limited and narrowly targeted to benefit the impacted
communities that are suffering from power plant and refinery
pollution.

We all need to pay our fair share to secure a safe and healthy
future, polluters included. By charging a  fair price for carbon
pollution, and limiting offsets, we can reduce emissions, implement
clean energy solutions, and protect vulnerable communities and
ecosystems.

Please work to protect public and environmental health by requiring
industries to pay the full cost of their pollution they emit. 

Thank you very much for considering these comments and the growing
body of evidence that climate change is upon us and accelerating.

Sincerely, 

Ellie Cohen