Dear members of the CARB Board and
Staff,
First of all, thank you for the work
you do to protect California’s people and environment and to
set the state on a course toward a more environmentally just
future. We are writing to express some concerns about the
procedures surrounding the submission of spoken public comments at
CARB hearings.
We were present at the hearing
yesterday (Thursday, June 23rd) on the 2022 Scoping
Plan. We were troubled by the presence of what appeared to
us, and to several others in the hearing room with whom we spoke,
to be representatives of front-groups claiming be voicing their
personal perspectives while reading generic, pre-scripted public
comments.
From our vantage-point, we could
clearly see that the members of a certain group were all reading
from pages of text printed in the same font (same style, same
size), and several of them delivered their comments haltingly, as
if they were reading sentences that they were scarcely familiar
with.
We were also frustrated by the sheer
number of in-person public comments made by members of these groups
– perhaps something like 15 to 20, in the case of two of the
groups. They seemed intent on dominating the discussion by
means of volume of comments made.
We recognize that it would be next to
impossible – and problematic from a standpoint of the
democratic process – to filter public comments. We
wonder, however, if it would be possible to enact a common-sense
measure like a cap on the number of comments that can offered by a
single group at a given hearing? And perhaps a cap on the
number of comment cards that can be submitted by a single
individual at the desk outside the hearing room?
To be clear, we have no desire to
silence the voices of any stakeholders in California’s
future. We simply wish to see a true diversity of
perspectives represented in the CARB hearing room, to avoid having
the public comment process overwhelmed by any group seeking
dominate the discussion by “gaming the system” of
submitting signup cards, and to ensure that those making comments
actually speak for the people they claim to represent.
Sincerely,
Daniel Larlham, on behalf of
Extinction Rebellion SF Bay;
Ralph King, on behalf of Silicon
Valley Climate Action Now.