First Name: | Sarah |
---|---|
Last Name: | Rascon |
Email Address: | srascon@lachamber.com |
Affiliation | Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce |
Subject | Los Angeles Volkswagen Green Funding |
Comment |
April 6, 2017 Mr. Mark Williams Mailstop 3E Air Resources Board P.O. Box 2815 Sacramento, California 95812 RE: Los Angeles Volkswagen Green Funding Dear Mr. Williams: On behalf of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, I would like to express our support for Los Angeles to receive one of Volkswagen’s two Green City designations in this first funding round. The lawsuit that brought forth the settlement with Volkswagen stemmed from air pollution, and no place in the nation has been hit harder from diesel pollution than Los Angeles. When you combine the disproportionate impact felt within our communities from air pollution with other CalEnviroScreen factors, LA County represents over half of the state’s disadvantaged communities. Not only does Los Angeles have significant air quality needs, but the City also represents a market opportunity for the future of transportation electrification and the next iteration of urban mobility. The investments made by Volkswagen with the first round of funding, potentially accumulating to over $44 million as they do in currently-slated Sacramento, can make a tremendous difference to propelling the region in this direction. We recognize CARB’s concern about having this investment be “transformative” by choosing a location small enough for effective impact, and it is for this reason that LA submitted a proposal that would concentrate investment within specific LA communities that need it most: Downtown, South LA, Boyle Heights, Wilmington, Pacoima, and LAX. By focusing on specific areas within a large city, the investment can achieve such goals as: leveraging a large market with existing investment to achieve a smaller subarea impact in parts of the city that could be transformative for ZEV deployment and infrastructure. While we appreciate the opportunity to be one of the five metro areas selected for infrastructure investment in the VW plan, we believe an investment in LA should be more significant than infrastructure alone and seek to reduce, in the long term, the fuel-related problems and inefficiencies that lead to calls for improved infrastructure. Selecting Los Angeles as one of the first Green Cities will enable VW to achieve maximum impact by leveraging hundreds of millions in public and private funding (more than any other single location in the state) and mitigating emissions in communities that need it the most through accelerated ZEV deployment and infrastructure buildout. We urge you to include Los Angeles as one of the two Green Cities as part of the ZEV investment. Please feel free to contact Sarah Rascon at SRascon@lachamber.com if you have any questions. Sincerely, Gary Toebben President & CEO |
Attachment |
www.arb.ca.gov/lists/com-attach/18-vwzevinvestplan-ws-U2BSelNgBWIELAg5.pdf Original File Name: 3.24.17_VW_city_of_LA_support_app.pdf
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2017-04-06 14:27:12 |
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