Comment Log Display

California Air Resources Board:
Subject: AB32 Scoping Plan
 When completing the Final Draft of the Scoping Plan for AB32,
please consider the following recommendations for inclusion.
A number of recent studies have emphasized how critical this plan
is for California’s future and reinforce the need for this plan to
be as rigorous and forceful as possible.
The cleaning of the air will be one of the major benefits of this
plan. Jane Hall , a Professor at CSU Fullerton and her colleagues,
have found that the shortened life spans, childhood illness and
lost workdays produced by the polluted air in California’s two most
polluted regions currently cost the state approximately $28 billion
per year.
Reducing the rate of ocean rise will save our coastal cities. The
Public Policy Institute of California has summarized the drastic
impact which an elevation of between 8 and 16 inches will have on
our cities and other coastal resources.
In a separate study, Fredrich Kahrl and David Roland-Holst of UC
Berkeley have placed the cost of coastline resource destruction at
$300 million and $3.9 billion per year, with a total of $2.5
trillion of real estate assets at risk from a combination of sea
level rise, wildfires and extreme weather events. 
As the recent debacle with US automakers, who have fought for over
25 years the very changes in emission and fuel economy regulations
which would now render them in the forefront of their industry had
they followed them, has shown us, being less than rigorous and
aggressive in addressing the issue of global warming will place
California at severe risk. Tough measures such as the following
must be included in the plan.
- The State should auction 100% of permits under the cap. 
Polluters should pay for their emissions, not be given free permits
that subsidize coal and prolong the transition to cleaner energy.
- The Scoping Plan should specify that all auction revenues will
be used to provide a Dividend to compensate consumers.   Given the
state of the economy, helping consumers deal with fuel and
electricity costs is the best use of auction revenues.
- I support CARB's proposal for Carbon Fees on fossil fuel
companies to help fund CARB's implementation of AB32. It is
critical that Carbon Fees can also provide funding sources for
clean technologies, green jobs, energy efficiency programs, and
more.
Sincerely, 
Charles G. Plopper, PhD
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Davis