SR 10-11-2011 13D13 -D
October 11, 2011
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE - MEMORANDUM
To: City Council
From: Councilmember O'Day
Date: October 11. 2011
13 -D: Request of Councilmember O'Day that council consider a resolution to join
other Clean Air Cities in declaring that climate change is not an abstract
problem for the future and to urge the Environmental Protection Agency
and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to enforce the Clean Air Act
to do our part to reduce atmospheric carbon to no more than 350 parts per
million.
13 -D
1 October 11, 2011
13 -D
10/11/14
' CENTER for BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY &causc NO is good.
Dear Council Member O'Day,
We are writing to you as a leader in the fight against climate change with hopes that Santa
Monica will join our Clean Air Cities campaign by passing a resolution in support of the Clean
Air Act.
As you know, if we want clean air and a healthy climate, we have to cut greenhouse gas
pollution. The Clean Air Act is our current best hope to reach this goal, but the Act and the EPA
are under significant attack from the fossil fuel industry and its allies in Congress. Cities and
counties across the country can be a powerful voice for both fighting back and prompting action
in Washington.
That's why the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute has launched "Clean Air
Cities," a nationwide campaign urging cities and counties around the United States to call on and
support the Obama administration and the EPA using the Clean Air Act to make significant
reductions in greenhouse gas pollution.
It's clear that climate change is here now and already having a profound effect on the places we
live, the natural resources we depend on and the species that provide rich biodiversity. We need
to take significant steps now to avoid the worst effects of runaway global climate change.
I'm attaching a sample city resolution, which we expect you will edit as you see fit, and we also
can provide many supporting documents which are on our webpage: CleanAirCities.ora
I am coordinating this effort and can be reached by email or phone.
Thank you for considering this request,
Rose Braz, Climate Campaign Director
rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org or (415) 436 -9682 x 319.
13 -D
10/11/14
Arizona. California. Nevada. New Mexico. Alaska • Oregon. Montana. Illinois. Minnesota • Vermont. Washington, OC
351 California St., Ste. 600 . San Francisco, CA 94104 tel: (415)436.9682 fax: (415) 436.9683 www.giologicalDiversity.org
DRAFT RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION NO:
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF TO ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR LISA P. JACKSON IN SUPPORT
OF REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION UNDER THE CLEAN AIR
ACT
WHEREAS, the decade from 2000 to 2010 was the warmest on record', and
2005 and 2010 tied for the hottest years on record 2; and
WHEREAS, the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is approximately 392
parts per million3 (ppm); and
WHEREAS, one of the world's leading climate scientists, Dr. James Hansen,
stated in 2008: "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which
civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate
evidence and climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its
current 385 ppm to at most 350ppm "4; and
WHEREAS, as early as the 1850s, scientists began predicting that greenhouse
gases from burning fossil fuels would eventually lead to the warming of the
Earth's surface ;5 and
WHEREAS, the current international pledges to address the climate crisis are so
weak that they could result in 770 ppm CO2 by 21006, a concentration of CO2
incompatible with human life as we know it;7 and
WHEREAS, 97 percent of scientific experts are convinced that human activity is
responsible for climate changes and there is a growing consensus among
researchers that reducing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to 350 ppm or
1 http: / /www.nasa.gov /home /hqnews /2010 /ian /HQ_10 -017 Warmest_temps.html
2 http: / /www.noaanews. noaa. gov /stories20l l/20110112_g oobalstats.htmi
3 http: / /co2now.org/
a http: / /arxiv.org /abs/0804.1126
s http: / /www.aip.org /history /climate /co2.htm
s http: / /e360. yale.edu /contenUfeature.msp ?id =2222
7 See, Anderson, K., and A. Bows. 2010. Beyond 'dangerous' climate change: emission scenarios for a new
world. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 369:20 -44.
New, M., D. Liverman, H. Schroder, and K. Anderson. 2010. Four degrees and beyond: the potential for a
global temperature increase of four degrees and its implications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society A 369:6 -19 and Smith, J. B., S. H. Schneider, M. Oppenheimer, G. W. Yohe, W. Hare, M. D.
Mastrandrea, A. Patwardhan, 1. Burton, J. Corfee- Morlot, C. H. D. Magadza, H. -M. Fosse], A. B. Pittock, A.
Rahman, A. Suarez, and J. -P. van Ypersele. 2009. Assessing dangerous climate change through an update
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern ". Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106:4133 -4137.
8 http://content.usatoday.com / communities /sciencefair /post/2010 /06/ scientists - overwhelmingly- believe -in-
ma n- made - climate - change /1
below as soon as possible is needed to avoid risking catastrophic and
irreversible climate change;9 and
WHEREAS, according to the Global Humanitarian Forum climate change is
already responsible every year for some 300,000 deaths, 325 million people
seriously affected, and economic losses worldwide of U.S. $125 billion;10 and
WHEREAS, extreme weather events are striking with increased frequency, with
deadly consequences for people and wildlife11; in the United States alone:
• 2005 had the most hurricanes on record since 1851;
• blizzards plagued the Northeast during the winter of 2011;
• intense rainfall and snowmelt forced the Mississippi River to overflow its
banks across the Midwest and South in summer 2011;
• the unprecedented 2011 Texas drought lead the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to declare the entire state a natural disaster zone;
• heat waves scorched the Midwest and East in summer 2011, with many
cities hitting record -high temperatures and for example, Oklahoma on
pace to break its record for days over 100 degrees; and
WHEREAS, climate change is threatening food security as crop growth and
yields diminish and droughts, floods and changes in snowpack depth are
disrupting water supplies; 12 and
WHEREAS, scientists have concluded that by 2100 as many as one in 10
species may be on the verge of extinction due to climate change with many
animals and plants already losing their habitats and food sources, struggling to
move poleward and upward to keep pace with our changing climate, shifting their
timing of breeding and migration patterns, and disappearing as populations die
OUt;13 and
WHEREAS, the oceans have become 30 percent more acidic since the industrial
revolution due to their uptake of carbon dioxide, which is harming ocean life from
shellfish to corals as they struggle to build the shells and skeletons they need to
survive; 14 and
9 See, Rockstrom, J., W. Steffen, K. Noone, A. Persson, F. S. Chapin, E. F. Lambin, T. M. Lenten, M.
Schaffer, C. Folke, H. J. Schelinhuber, B. Nykvist, C. A. deWit, T. Hughes, S. van der Leeuw, H. Rodhe, S.
Sorlin, P. K. Snyder, R. Costanza, U. Svedin, M. Falkenmark, L. Karlberg, R. W. Corell, V. J. Fabry, J.
Hansen, B. Walker, D. Liverman, K. Richardson, P. Crutzen, and J. A. Foley. 2009. A safe operating space
for humanity. Nature 461:472 -475 and Hansen, J., M. Sato, P. Kharecha, D. Bearing, V. Masson - Delmotte,
M. Pagani, M. Raymo, D. L. Royer, and J. C. Zachos. 2008. Target atmospheric CO2: Where should
humanity aim? Open Atmospheric Science Journal 2:217 -231.
t0 www.eird.org /publicaciones /humanimpactreport.pdf
http: / /www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2011 /05/19 /floods- droughts- extreme - weatherus_
n 864046.html ?view =print
'2- http: / /wvvw.sciencedaily.com/ releases /2011/02/110221101319. htm
t3 http: / /www.sciencedaily.com/ releases /2011/07/110711151457.htm
t4 http: /Iwww.sciencedaily.com/ releases /2008/05/080521105251.htm
WHEREAS, the world's ice is rapidly melting threatening water supplies, raising
sea levels, and jeopardizing ice - dependent animals like the polar bear and
walrus so severely that Arctic summer sea ice is half the area and thickness it
was several decades ago, alpine glaciers are in near - global retreat, and the giant
Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets are melting at an accelerating pace ;15
and
WHEREAS, according to Scientific American, sea level is rising faster along the
U.S. East Coast than it has for at least 2,000 years, and is accelerating in pace,
threatening coastal wildlife and the 40 percent of the world's population that lives
within 60 miles of the coast;16 and
WHEREAS, for four decades, the Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe
through a proven, comprehensive, successful system of pollution control that
saves lives and creates economic benefits exceeding its costs by many times; 17
and
WHEREAS, with the Clean Air Act, air quality in this country has improved
significantly since 1970, despite major growth both in our economy and industrial
production; and
WHEREAS, between 1970 and 1990, the six main pollutants covered by the
Clean Air Act — particulate matter and ground -level ozone (both of which
contribute to smog and asthma), carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur and nitrogen
oxides (the acid gases that cause acid rain) — were reduced by between 47
percent and 93 percent, and airborne lead was virtually eliminated; and
WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act has produced economic benefits valued at $2
trillion or 30 times the cost of regulation; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts vs. EPA (2007) that
greenhouse gases are "air pollutants" as defined by the Clean Air Act and the
Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate them;
WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act can work immediately to curb greenhouse gas
pollution without new climate legislation or in conjunction with new climate
legislation; and
" For Clean Air Act facts, see:
http: / /www.biologicaldiversity.org /programs / climate_ law_ institute /global_warming_litigation /clean air _ act /pdf
s /CleanAirActWorks_032011.pdf and http: /Iwww.epa.g( v /air /sect8l2 /; "The Benefits and Costs of the Clean
Air Act, 1970 to 1990," "The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, 1990 to 2010 ".
WHEREAS, The city of prides itself on being a leader in the fight
against climate change and for clean air [insert steps your city has already taken
such as developing a climate action plan, signing the Mayors' Climate Protection
Agreement, reducing carbon emissions by X percent, etc.]
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that climate change is not an abstract
problem for the future or one that will only affect far - distant places but rather
climate change is happening now, we are causing it, and the longer we wait to
act, the more we lose and the more difficult the problem will be to solve; and
we, the City Council, on behalf of the residents of , do hereby
urge the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa P. Jackson,
and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to fully employ and enforce the
Clean Air Act to do our part to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than
350 parts per million.
Reference Resolution No.
10624 (CCS).