News

As part of Forum's "Our Changing Communities" series on the results of the 2010 census, we take a close look at Oakland.

Press Release
For immediate release
July 1, 2011

Contact:
Bill Gallegos, CBE (323) 573-5310
Caroline Farrell, CRPE (661) 586-2621
Evelyn Rangel-Medina, CrossRoots (702) 534-9115
Joaquín Quetzal Sánchez, CrossRoots (917) 575-3154

CALIFORNIA CAP-AND-TRADE IS NOT READY – ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES LIFT EQUITABLE ALTERNATIVES

HUNTINGTON PARK, CA—A coalition of Environmental Justice groups are committed to continue lifting California forward by stopping Cap-and-Trade and implementing AB 32 equitably. On June 24, 2011 the Appellate Court issued a stay order allowing the California Air Resources Board to move ahead in the planning of a Cap-and-Trade program, jeopardizing AB 32, California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act.

On June 29, 2011, ARB Chair Mary Nichols announced Cap-and-Trade is not ready and will postpone enforcement until 2013.

By Jennifer Medina

LOS ANGELES — The women shuffle back and forth as they wait just after 7 a.m. for the orange bus crawling down the street. It will be more than an hour before they arrive at work, and soon the same journey may stretch to nearly two hours.

Though the roads in Los Angeles routinely jam with honking cars in the morning, there is also an almost invisible commuter class — the millions of people, most of them poor, who depend on the sprawling bus system.

Local officials push public transportation as the path to an environmentally friendly future, with plans for a subway to the sea and miles of other rail projects in the region. But at the same time, the financially struggling Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is cutting back dozens of bus lines and shortening routes to save money that they say would be better spent elsewhere.

For Immediate Release
June 24, 2011

After close to three hours of lively and sometimes rancorous debate at their June 22 joint meeting, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) opened the door to advancing social equity in their long-term planning projects.

Under the banner of “One Bay Area,” MTC and ABAG have launched their work to plan how the Bay Area will grow in the next generation.  This planning process will implement SB 375, the important companion legislation to AB 32, California’s landmark climate law.

SB 375 requires MTC to partner with ABAG to come up with a “Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS)” to reduce driving and greenhouse gas emissions in the region by supporting transit service that links jobs and affordable housing. The SCS will be included in MTC’s Regional Transportation Plan that distributes more than $200 billion in state and federal funds.

By Jeff Conant

The judge greenlighted most of the policies in California's AB32 except the cap and trade plan, which some argued would benefit polluters at the expense of poor communities.

San Francisco's Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE) announced today that it received the judge's writ in its lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The writ gives the green light to most of the policies advanced under AB32, California's Global Warming Solutions Act, but puts a permanent hold on cap and trade.

"Judge Ernest Goldsmith of the San Francisco Superior Court ruled that CARB violated CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) when, among other things, it failed to properly consider alternatives to a 'cap and trade' program in its Scoping Plan to implement AB 32," CRPE's statement says. "The Court's Writ, issued Friday, enjoins, or stops, all implementation and actions in furtherance of cap and trade until CARB completes a lawfully adequate CEQA review."

By Zusha Elinson

The East Bay Tea Party has taken aim at a wonky effort to encourage housing near transit hubs
The words flash onto a black screen: “The ‘New World Order’ is here.” Dramatic music swells as the message continues: “One Global Vision, Designed by the United Nations, To Strip you of Your Freedom.”

What could be so sinister? According to the video posted on the East Bay Tea Party’s website, it’s the Sustainable Communities Strategy being developed by two of the wonkiest governmental bodies in the Bay Area: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments.

By Christopher Connelly

In a complex and dynamic world where scientific certainty is hard to come by and new technologies, chemicals and industrial processes are being introduced into the world, Richmond’s City Council decided that it is best to take a cautious approach to making policies and city planning. At least, that’s the aim of a resolution passed at last night’s city council meeting.

The idea behind the resolution is that the city should use the precautionary principle, which holds that if there is a possibility that a policy or plan will have potentially dangerous health or environmental impact—even if there is no scientific consensus—it is better to err on the side of caution. This resolution will put the burden of proof on companies proposing new developments and businesses within city limits to show that there is little chance that a local group will be negatively impacted.  Although the resolution is symbolic, it is a statement that the council will consider health impacts for any decisions they make—like new buildings or industrial and manufacturing developments—and will ask the organization proposing a new action to prove that it is unlikely to cause harm.