On June 23, the California Air Resources Board held a public meeting on their Draft Scoping Plan in Sacramento with more than 450 people providing verbal and written comments, including some from our chapter. The current draft relies heavily on costly and unproven carbon capture technologies and emissions trading instead of direct emissions reduction, propping up the current energy status quo of fossil fuel dependence. This message needs to be relayed again as forcefully as it was in Sacramento by environmental justice activists.

Over the last few months, we have joined thousands of people from across the state in calling on CARB to invest in real climate solutions with their 2022 Scoping Plan. CARB has a choice: they could keep giving Big Oil and Gas more excuses to pollute our air and water. Or they could help create a future beyond oil and gas in California, where all of us have access to healthy air and clean, reliable transportation.

Together, we are calling for:

  1. A full, coordinated phase out of fossil fuels, with targets for oil refining by 2045, oil and gas extraction by 2035, and a clean electric grid by 2035.
  2. Accelerate and scale up investments in clean vehicles and mass transit for working class Californians.
  3. Eliminate reliance on climate policy dead ends like Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) on polluting fuel sources.

Here’s a document from APEN with talking points and tips on preparing your public comment: (Google Doc Link)

Interested in holding signs and/or giving comment or just showing up?

RSVP to CARB to give public comment.

Local climate justice groups are planning a rally outside before the meeting, starting at 4:30 PM. Show up and show your support! Rally RSVP: (Facebook Event)