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Comment 188 for 2013 Investment Plan for Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds (2013investmentpln-ws) - 1st Workshop.
First Name: Suzanne
Last Name: Smith
Email Address: suzsmith@sctainfo.org
Affiliation: Sonoma County Transportation Authority
Subject: SCTA/RCPA comments on Draft Concept Paper
Comment:
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA) and Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA), I am writing to provide comments on the Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds Investment Plan Draft Concept Paper and express support for integrated, local investments in sustainable communities. The RCPA was created to provide coordination on local efforts to address energy efficiency, transportation, renewable energy, resiliency strategies, and long-term planning among the County of Sonoma, all nine cities, and other public agencies in Sonoma County. The RCPA is overseen by the same board as the SCTA, allowing us to leverage existing transportation planning capacity and maximize the effectiveness of local greenhouse gas reduction programs. We believe that local governments and regional collaboration on emissions reduction programs have important roles to play in achieving the state’s GHG reduction targets. Achievements in Sonoma County are evidence of the capacity that local actors have to implement innovative and aggressive programs that achieve demonstrable GHG reductions: • Sonoma County and all its nine cities – in conjunction with the local non-profit Climate Protection Campaign – adopted a community target to reduce emissions to 25% below 1990 levels by 2015. • The Sonoma County Water Agency - the single largest energy user in the County - adopted a goal to be Carbon Free by 2015 and via renewable energy and energy efficiency projects has reduced emissions by 97% since adopting this goal. • The County has established the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program (SCEIP), a PACE program that has financed more than 1,800 projects totaling nearly $60 million in improvements. • The County recently approved the formation of the joint powers authority for Sonoma Clean Power, a Community Choice Aggregation program. • The RCPA has led efforts in implementing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate action programs, ensuring that both small and large governments can engage in GHG reduction efforts in a meaningful way and harness efficiencies by collaboration at a regional scale. • The RCPA has established innovative programs such as the Windsor Pay As You Save (PAYS®) on-water-bill financing program that allows residents to address water and energy costs at very low-risk and the Energy Upgrade California Flex Path which aims to transform the market for whole-home retrofits. • The SCTA has led the way with innovative transportation programs such as WeGo Sonoma, a real-time ridesharing program that links riders and drivers to reduce single occupant vehicle use. These projects have created multiple benefits for our communities: GHG reductions, cleaner air, reduced energy, water, and transportation costs, improved public health, and local jobs. However there is much more work to be done in Sonoma County and at a local level throughout California. Therefore, we strongly believe that a portion of cap-and-trade revenues should be dedicated to a local government emissions reduction program that will enable regional and local agencies to deliver the kinds of projects that will be needed for the state to meet its goals, including energy efficiency, water efficiency, distributed generation, conservation, urban forestry, and other natural resource investments. We also believe that auction proceeds derived from transportation fuels should be allocated to transportation projects that reduce GHGs while addressing critical transportation system needs, which is why we signed a letter in support of the Transportation Coalition for Livable Communities proposal. We strongly support their call for flexibility in allowing local agencies to develop the most-cost effective projects to meet critical transportation infrastructure and maintenance needs and achieve their greenhouse gas reduction goals in a manner consistent with regional Sustainable Communities Strategies. In closing, we would like to highlight several aspects of the concept paper that we urge you to further develop and consider specifically when crafting the final Investment Plan: 1. Integrated solutions to transportation emissions that address mobility, infrastructure, and land-use create multiple co-benefits to our communities while addressing the largest contributor to GHGs (pages 10 and 15) 2. Financing and on-bill repayment are essential tools for driving commercial and residential energy and water efficiency projects and renewable energy projects (page 10) 3. Nearly all of the near-term strategies called out in Figure 9: Examples of Potential Projects for Investment through 2020 can be implemented at a local government level (page 12) 4. “Funding should leverage private and other government investment to the maximum extent possible”; existing local government emissions reduction programs and regional SCS planning processes provide excellent vehicles to leverage other investment. (page 15) Thank you for consideration of our comments. Sincerely, Suzanne Smith Executive Director, SCTA/RCPA
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2013-03-08 12:53:03
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