ARB
Disappointment in ARB Case
05/15/17 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail |
Climate
Change
After three years of
hard work, TRANSDEF’s challenge
to the California
Air Resources Board’s adoption of its 2014 Scoping
Plan was rejected today by the Court.
Disappointingly, the decision was based purely on
the technical, procedural objections brought by
ARB. ARB never defended its decision to include a
GHG-increasing measure in a plan intended to
reduce GHGs.
In oral argument, TRANSDEF’s attorney, Stuart Flashman, proposed a new way to look at CEQA GHG impacts--one that we have not heard being used before: Because of the global climate change tipping point being close to the present, he distinguished near-term GHG emissions as being far more significant an impact than emissions occurring after the tipping point has been passed. While a very strong argument, the Court ruled that TRANSDEF’s comments had not made that point, so that we were barred from litigating it. We suggest this issue be raised in future cases.
In oral argument, TRANSDEF’s attorney, Stuart Flashman, proposed a new way to look at CEQA GHG impacts--one that we have not heard being used before: Because of the global climate change tipping point being close to the present, he distinguished near-term GHG emissions as being far more significant an impact than emissions occurring after the tipping point has been passed. While a very strong argument, the Court ruled that TRANSDEF’s comments had not made that point, so that we were barred from litigating it. We suggest this issue be raised in future cases.
CA is not Serious about VMT Reduction
02/05/17 Filed in: Climate
Change |
Transportation
Planning
TRANSDEF’s
organizational focus is the reduction of GHG
emissions from transportation. Much of our work has
involved the state’s policy-setting agency for
climate change, the California Air Resources Board,
or ARB. ARB has produced generally excellent climate
change plans, called Scoping Plans. However, it has
consistently been weak in the area of reducing GHG
emissions from transportation, despite determining
that nearly half of the state’s GHG emissions are
generated by the transportation sector.
Read
More...
Briefing Continues in ARB case
02/02/17 Filed in: Climate
Change |
High-Speed
Rail
TRANSDEF filed its Opening Brief in its challenge to
ARB’s inclusion of HSR in its 2014 Scoping Plan. It’s
been a long hard slog since we filed the case back in
2014, but things will move more quickly now.
See
this page
for a copy of the brief, for ARB’s Opposition Brief,
and for a description of the case’s complicated
history over the past two years. Here’s the Brief’s
Conclusion: Read
More...
ARB Not In Touch With Transporation
12/09/15 Filed in: Climate
Change |
Transportation
Planning
A collection of
TRANSDEF’s comments to the Air Resources Board (ARB)
was recently posted:
Testimony to ARB on Regional GHG Emissions Reduction Targets: “These targets will result in increased emissions in this sector, due to population growth. This is going in the wrong direction, and would send the wrong signal to the rest of the world about ARB's view of the need for urgent reductions in GHG emissions.”
ARB’s 2013 Scoping Plan Update: “Staff recognizes the need for "Fundamental transformation of transportation system needed to meet goals" but seems to have little grasp of the institutional barriers to that transformation.” Read More...
Testimony to ARB on Regional GHG Emissions Reduction Targets: “These targets will result in increased emissions in this sector, due to population growth. This is going in the wrong direction, and would send the wrong signal to the rest of the world about ARB's view of the need for urgent reductions in GHG emissions.”
ARB’s 2013 Scoping Plan Update: “Staff recognizes the need for "Fundamental transformation of transportation system needed to meet goals" but seems to have little grasp of the institutional barriers to that transformation.” Read More...
It's Time to Get Serious, ARB
10/19/14 Filed in: Climate
Change
TRANSDEF
submitted comments to the Air Resources Board today
on the need for an update to the regional GHG
emissions reduction targets that were assigned by
ARB back in 2010. These targets tell regional
boards like MTC how much they must reduce their
GHG emissions. Currently, GHG emissions continue
to grow, as the regions continue to support solo
driving. The letter states that the current
targets aren’t working, and that tougher ones are
needed to send a message to transportation
agencies that they must play an active role in
protecting the climate. Read
More...
Plan Bay Area Court Decision Released
Alameda County Superior
Court Judge Grillo issued a ruling today in
the Bay Area
Citizens v. ABAG challenge to Plan Bay Area. He
denied their petition that sought a ruling that the
EIR was inadequate. See the decision and the briefing
at the bottom of this
page.
This page also contains the settlement between the
MTC and Sierra Club and Communities for a Better
Environment.
Suit Challenges HSR Funding: Says It Worsens Climate Change
06/23/14 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail |
Climate
Change
TRANSDEF, the
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund,
announced that it filed suit
in Fresno County
Superior Court today challenging the Governor's
fallback funding scheme for High-Speed Rail (HSR).
HSR was included in the list of measures to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contained in the
Update to the Scoping Plan recently adopted by the
California Air Resources Board (ARB). The Scoping
Plan is California's master strategy for
responding to climate change.
TRANSDEF’s attorney, Stuart Flashman, commented: “As a former scientist, I was disappointed that ARB ignored the scientific evidence. The huge spike in cement production needed to build all the viaducts and trackways for the Governor’s high-speed rail line will result in greenhouse gas emissions far outstripping any potential benefit from the line. Including high-speed rail in the Scoping Plan runs directly counter to the legislature’s intent in AB 32 and violates the direct mandate of the law." Read More...
TRANSDEF’s attorney, Stuart Flashman, commented: “As a former scientist, I was disappointed that ARB ignored the scientific evidence. The huge spike in cement production needed to build all the viaducts and trackways for the Governor’s high-speed rail line will result in greenhouse gas emissions far outstripping any potential benefit from the line. Including high-speed rail in the Scoping Plan runs directly counter to the legislature’s intent in AB 32 and violates the direct mandate of the law." Read More...
ARB's Scoping Plan Update
04/07/14 Filed in: Climate
Change
The CA Air Resources
Board (ARB) is updating the 2008 Scoping Plan, which
laid out the State’s plan to reduce greenhouse gases
(GHGs) which cause global climate change. TRANSDEF
filed its comments, which stress the need for
clarity as to the contribution of the economic
recession and higher gasoline prices to the
state’s reduced GHG emissions in the past 6 years.
The comments call for ARB to remove HSR as a GHG
emissions reduction measure, given that it is
projected to increase GHGs for decades.
Cap and Trade for HSR: Scientifically Worthless
04/19/14 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail
TRANSDEF released
its analysis today of the CHSRA’s
Contribution of the High-Speed Rail
Program to Reducing California's Greenhouse Gas
Emission Levels (June 2013). In short, the
construction of HSR would generate more greenhouse
gases (GHGs) than it would reduce, for at least 2
decades. Because of this, it would be illegal to
use cap and trade funds, which are intended to
reduce GHGs, to build HSR. Read
More...
Is California Serious about Reducing GHGs?
08/05/13 Filed in: Climate
Change
The Air Resources Board
is updating its Scoping Plan, California’s master
strategy to reduce greenhouse gases under AB 32.
TRANSDEF submitted a wide-ranging set of suggestions
which emphasized the
need for the Board to set stringent regional
greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets,
required under SB 375, that will achieve lower
emissions from cars and light trucks. The targets
set by the Board in 2010 were per capita numbers
that, because they were lower than the rate of
population growth, lead to increases in GHGs,
contrary to the intent of SB 375.
Air Resources Board Doesn't Cave But Doesn't Lead Either
09/23/10 Filed in: Climate
Change
The Air Resources Board
(ARB) adopted today a set of GHG emissions reduction
targets for each of California’s regions. The
building industry had conducted an intense campaign
to get ARB to reduce the proposed targets to
less-challenging levels. TRANSDEF’s President, David
Schonbrunn, testified about how the proposed targets
were inadequate to even keep current levels of GHGs
from motor vehicles from growing. Here’s his
testimony: Read
More...