Pavley and City Hold Global Warming Hearing

Hannah Heineman
Mirror staff writer

   The California State Assembly Select Committee on Air and Water Quality and the City of Santa Monica co-sponsored a hearing on Global Warming chaired by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley on November 9 in Santa Monica.
   The hearing focused on the potential long-term negative impacts of Global Warming on California and the need for government at all levels to propose policies to help mitigate these impacts.
   Global Warming (increased worldwide temperatures) is the result of increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to experts, the projected rise in temperatures in California later this century may amplify the incidence of heat waves, tropical diseases, forest fires, floods, sea level elevation, droughts, poor air quality and the reliability of our water supply. These greenhouse gases may also cause health threats by increasing the levels of carcinogens and toxins in the air.
   According to Pavley, such alterations could threaten “many of the critical sectors of the California economy, including agriculture, fishing, timber, real estate, insurance and tourism.” She went on to say that California “must begin to incorporate the impacts of climate change in our planning efforts and keep California moving towards reducing our share of greenhouse gases. This will also reduce our dependence on foreign oil and the current political pressures to drill in environmentally sensitive regions.”
   The City hopes to convince the State Assembly to adopt many of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction policies that it has adopted. Mayor Michael Feinstein pointed out to the committee that “during the past five years” the City has “implemented green building design and construction requirements”; adopted a strategic energy plan that “includes the purchase of 100 percent renewable electricity for all City facilities” and called for “cost-effective energy efficiency retrofits of residential and small business customers and public schools.” Additionally, the City has “initiated numerous strategies to reduce vehicle use…through our commitment to public transportation,” as well as encouraging the use of alternative-fuel vehicles, recycling and waste reduction.
   Feinstein urged the Committee to adopt policies that encourage the use of zero emission vehicles and to create a “land-use and public transportation infrastructure to reduce our dependence on private-use vehicles, which includes consideration of job/housing balance, affordable housing and community-serving businesses.”
   In January, the State Assembly will vote on Pavley’s Assembly Bill 1058, which would require automobile manufacturers to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution generated by passenger cars and light-duty trucks in California by 2005.
   The committee heard testimony from scientists who are researching the effects of Global Warming, heads of state agencies who are working on the impacts of Global Warming, environmental and consumer and business representatives, as well as members of the public.
   City Council member Kevin McKeown told the Mirror after the hearing that, “Santa Monica will continue to pioneer mindful energy policy, transportation infrastructure and land use. We must each also take personal responsibility for our own chosen lifestyle and how it impacts our planet.”