http://www.redding.com/news/2012/sep/20 ... ises-some/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Shasta County may take the last step toward adopting its regional climate action plan Tuesday before the sometimes-controversial program to cut greenhouse gas emissions urged by state environmental officials is put through a final review process and made official...
Just heard about this Friday. Sorry for the late notice, to the forum.
If by chance anyone want to go to the BOS meeting /Workshop tomorrow morning, be sure to say hi.
I expect quite a few Tea-Partyers there. There's been a lot of "Climate change conspiracy=agenda 21" talk , on the local AM airwaves recently...
If you want your comment to be put into the record, send it to:
afieseler@co.shasta.ca.us
I think you need to do it now, as in today? But there should be another comment period in the future.
Below is my entire (hastily written) comment, a shorter version of which is supposed to make it into a LTTE in tomorrow's Redding Record Searchlight:
What’s missing from the Shasta County regional climate action plan?
In over a year, I've put over 13,000 miles on my battery electric vehicle (BEV), over 12,000 of those miles in Shasta County. My reduction of CO2 pollution in Shasta County by driving a BEV, rather than a far-less-efficient gasoline powered car, approaches 100%.
My reduction in CO2 pollution world-wide, is between 70% and 90%, since the CO2 pollution created in just getting the oil and tar located in distant regions, out of the ground, refined, and transported to the gas pumps of North California, is comparable to the CO2 pollution created in the production of North California’s relatively low-emission off-peak (overnight) grid power, that I usually use to charge my car.
And, of Course, American troops have never been asked to shed their blood to secure electricity imports. Every American BEV is fueled by American energy, providing jobs in America, to those who produce electric vehicle fuel.
It has also cost me a little over one cent per mile driven, by charging overnight, using PG&E's optional time-of-use rate E9.That's like buying gasoline at a under 50 cents a gallon, if you can get a gas-fueled car to compare it to, that actually gets over 40 MPG. That happens to be the cheapest electricity rate available in Northern California, but every EV owner can charge at home, for the cost equivalent of $1.25 a gallon, or less.
The lower cost and CO2 pollution are both the result of my having my own fuel station. You probably already have one already too, an electric outlet at your home. Charge overnight and you start every day with a full charge. But, if you wish to make trips over 70-90 miles or so (with a 20 kWh “full tank”, the size I have in my BEV) in one day, you have a real problem. There are currently no fast-charge stations between the San Francisco Bay area and Ashland Oregon. So, in our region, instead of picking up about three quarters of a “tank” in under 30 minutes, it still takes you many hours (just as long as it takes at home) to refuel on the road.
Fast charge stations are required to make BEVs a practical option for many North State drivers.
Unfortunately, North State political leaders have allowed the exclusion of the Northern third of the State from the pilot project to install fast-charge stations on. And so far, no local government or private entity has produced any credible plan to fill the North California Gap, in our State’s fuel infrastructure.
As recently announced:
“Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. joined with the California Public Utilities Commission today to announce a $120 million dollar settlement with NRG Energy Inc. that will fund the construction of a statewide network of charging stations for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), including at least 200 public fast-charging stations and another 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 locations across the state...
The network of charging stations funded by the settlement will be installed in the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Los Angeles Basin and San Diego County. This new infrastructure network is a breakthrough in encouraging consumer adoption of electric vehicles and will contribute significantly to achieving California’s clean car goals...”
http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17463" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So, while Oregon and Washington have nearly completed their programs to build fast charge stations, from The Oregon/ Northern California border to Canada, and Central and Southern California of are on the way to doing the same, it looks like the “West Coast Electric Highway” will end in Ashland, and then not begin again until Sacramento/Vacaville, before continuing on, all the way to Mexico.
http://westcoastgreenhighway.com/electrichighways.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Why is there no mention in the Draft Shasta County regional climate action plan of any planning to provide the obvious benefits of giving residents a superior alternative to power their cars, rather than caving in to the continuing financial extortion and pollution of our atmosphere, by the oil industry?
Why is there no mention of the most “bang for the buck” CO2 reduction measure currently available, reducing CO2 pollution by getting rid of the obsolescent gasoline engines in our cars, rather than, as the plan does now, by emphasizing less practical efforts to discourage private vehicle travel, with the loss of the many of the benefits cars provide?
Why are the advantages of moving our energy infrastructure into the twenty-first century, not only to our environment, but to our regional economic development, lost to North State government agencies?
What are the Shasta board of Supervisors, and other North State government and business leaders, planning to do about it?
Ed Marek
Oak Run
