When I speak about transportation justice to SANDAG, I keep hearing the same buzz phrase: “balanced approach”. SANDAG claims the transportation plan for our region is a “balanced approach” because some funding is going to public transit, bicycling and walking improvements.

I think we have different opinions on what it means to be “balanced”.

Let’s imagine there are two children. Let’s say I give one child two pieces of chocolate and I give the other child twenty. The child who gets two may say, “Hey, that’s not fair,” and he may be right.

To remedy the situation, I give them both twenty more.

Does that make it balanced? Does that make it equal?

No. The children still began at a place of imbalance. If I continue to give them both the same amount of chocolates, one will still have more chocolate than the other because they didn’t begin at the same place. They were imbalanced from the start.

This example isn’t so different from the transportation conversation I’m having at SANDAG.

Where do we see imbalance?

1. Neighborhoods

Just like the chocolates, when one community begins from a place of very little transportation access, poor sidewalks, dangerous bike paths, poor air quality, and more (two chocolates) and another community has plenty of transit access, wide sidewalks, paved bike paths and toxic-free air, (twenty chocolates), investing the same amount in both communities who are severely imbalanced from the start doesn’t make it balanced. Ignoring the glaring deficit of one community in comparison to another is unjust and, as the child with two chocolates may say, unfair.

2. Funding

For the past few decades, freeways have received significantly more funding than infrastructure that supports public transit, bike paths and sidewalks. We know this to be true because it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to get to certain places without a car.

3. Travel Time

When it comes to competitive travel times between modes of transportation the imbalance is obvious. In San Diego, the average commute time by car is typically 25 minutes while it can be up to two or three times longer on public transit.

4. Public Health

As a result of freeways running through or near their neighborhoods, certain communities experience elevated cases of asthma, cancer and heart disease. SANDAG may say, “But we are investing in strategies to relieve the air pollution in these communities, such as expanding freeways for carpool lanes and for transit.” But this is not a solution to toxic air pollution because we know freeway expansion only worsens air quality and the effects of climate change.

5. Safety

Sadly, residents in low-income San Diego neighborhoods are ten times more likely to be hit by a car. Walk around San Diego’s underserved communities and see the broken or nonexistent sidewalks, lack of cross walks and public transit stops or pedestrian-friendly infrastructure for yourself. You don’t have to be a city planner to know that certain neighborhoods have considerably “less candy”, so to speak.

Transportation justice means true balance.

When EHC talks about transportation justice, we’re talking about the need for true balance and we are disappointed that SANDAG proposes a plan that only perpetuates a legacy of imbalance.

If SANDAG really wants a balanced transportation plan for the region, they will:

• Build efficient transit, bike and walk infrastructure
• Prioritize transit, bike and walk projects first before freeway expansion
• Make taking transit not an inconvenient form of travel
• Apply innovative transportation solutions that improve the air quality in low-income communities
• Fund transit, bike and walk infrastructure first in overburdened communities that have been neglected for too long

We can have a balanced transportation plan in our region, but it will require a new approach to what the term balance means and recognition of communities that have been behind from the start. If one child has two candies and one child has 20, why not give the first child 18 more and implement the values of equity and justice?

Thank you for supporting transportation justice.

To get involved, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today.

Monique Lopez, policy advocate

Today, more than 30 community residents and allies traveled two hours and 60 miles to Barona Casino to make their voice heard. They traveled to tell SANDAG board members not to gamble away the region’s future by continuing to heavily invest in freeway expansion projects when the community is longing for improvements to public transit, bicycling and walking. They’re longing for #transportationjustice.

Today we heard from community members, students and local organizations including City Heights Community Development Corporation, BAME Community Development Corporation, Center on Policy Initiatives, Cleveland National Forest Foundation and the San Diego Housing Federation.

• Alma, a resident of Sherman Heights, spoke about the need to move away from freeway expansion by telling her own story. Alma lives near the SR-94, where there is a proposal to build extra lanes. Alma’s kids already suffer from asthma, much in part triggered by the air pollution from cars on the freeway neighboring her home.
• Avital Aboody from BAME Community Development Corporation spoke about the need to make transit ridership a viable option compared to driving in a car. In San Diego the average commute time by car is about 25 minutes, whereas transit may take two to three times as long. By investing in public transit systems we can make transit a more realistic option for residents.
• A student from San Diego State University spoke about the need for better bike and pedestrian infrastructure. He rides his bicycle to and from school every day and often finds himself in dangerous situations due to the lack of good quality and safe infrastructure.

These are just a few examples to show how SANDAG’s prioritization of freeway expansion is not in the best interest of the community. Residents continue to demand a plan that prioritizes transit, bicycling and walking infrastructure projects before any new freeway projects.

While SANDAG has taken small steps toward building a more sustainable Regional Transportation Plan, the community’s needs remain unmet. The region continues to ask that SANDAG:

• Create a plan that deprioritizes freeway expansion projects to prioritize and invest in public transit, bicycling and walking instead. This leads to greater transportation access and significantly reduces air pollution in communities already overburdened from the air quality impacts of freeways in their neighborhoods.
• Once this plan is developed, treat it as a legitimate option by putting it through the same environmental review process as the freeway-centered plan. Without this review process, our #transportationjustice plan doesn’t stand an equal chance.

To get involved in demanding transportation justice, please contact Monique Lopez today: 619-474-0220 x 130 or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

With your help, we’ve been calling for SANDAG to create a #transportationjustice plan for our communities for years. Transportation justice means all neighborhoods have equal access to public transit, bicycling and walking opportunities and no one is overburdened with the pollution from cars on neighborhood streets or freeways.

Finally in September 2014, SANDAG agreed to look into the costs and benefits of such a plan. Now in January 2015, they released a potential plan but it still lacks the needs identified by the community.

• The proposed plan wants to build more freeways that continue to pollute our air and don’t ease traffic congestion.
• The proposed plan ignores state law requiring us to lower the air pollution contributing to climate change.
• The proposed plan allocate money to freeway projects instead of improving bike paths and sidewalks as much as we need. 

So transportation justice advocates ask that:

• SANDAG create a plan that deprioritizes freeway expansion projects to prioritize and invest in public transit, bicycling and walking instead. This leads to greater transportation access and significantly reduces air pollution in communities already overburdened from the air quality impacts of freeways in their neighborhoods.
• Once this plan is developed, SANDAG treat it as a legitimate option by putting it through the same environmental review process as the freeway-centered plan. Without this review process, our #transportationjustice plan doesn’t stand an equal chance.

What are they saying?

• SANDAG claims there is not enough funding to support operations and maintenance for more public transit, bicycling and walking paths. But the truth remains that SANDAG doesn’t have enough funds to support operation and maintenance for freeway infrastructure, yet they still vote to expand freeways. This makes it clear that if there is a will for funding there is a way, SANDAG just has it’s priorities wrong.

We need you to help them focus on what really matters: Accessible and affordable public transit. Safe infrastructure for bicycling and walking. Less freeways, cars and trucks. Cleaner air. Lower asthma rates. Healthier San Diego. Sustainable future.

Here are two things you can do to make your voice heard:

• Attend the SANDAG hearing

SANDAG is discussing the plan publicly on January 29 and we need your voice to be heard and your presence to be felt. To get involved in demanding transportation justice, please contact Monique Lopez today: 619-474-0220 x 130 or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

• Tell SANDAG that we demand transportation justice.

Right now, you can tell five of the SANDAG board members who will be evaluating the transportation plan. You can start with the message below, feel free to alter the content to make it meaningful to your own neighborhood.

City of San Diego
Todd Gloria, Council Member
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City of Chula Vista
Hon. Mary Salas
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City of Encinitas
Hon. Lisa Shaffer, Councilmember 
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City of Santee
Hon. Jack Dale, Councilmember 
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City of Solana Beach
Hon. Lesa Heebner, Mayor
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Email template:

Dear _______,

My name is _______. I am deeply concerned by the transportation scenarios proposed by SANDAG.

The freeway-heavy plan is unjust and doesn't meet the community's needs for transportation justice.

Transportation justice means all neighborhoods have equal access to public transit, bicycling and walking opportunities and no one is overburdened with the pollution from cars on neighborhood streets or freeways.

The plan builds more freeways that will continue to pollute our air, raise the rate of childhood asthma, and will not ease traffic congestion. I ask you to advocate for a plan that deprioritizes freeway expansion projects and invest in public transit, bicycling and walking instead and treat it as a legitimate option by putting it through the same environmental review process as the freeway-centered plan.

Thank you for representing the people’s demands for transportation justice.

Clean air is a human right. And right now is a key time to make sure our state’s leaders make a decision with that fact in mind.

California’s trucks, trains and ships emit a tremendous amount of pollution into the air we breathe, robbing us of our health (especially the health of children) and contributing significantly to climate change. But we can change all of this for the better with just one signature.

The California Air Resources Board has developed a strategy that shifts what our trucks, trains and ships use to a much cleaner and much healthier system so we can breathe easier -- literally. Now, we need to show our support.

We need your help to tell California how much we need clean air. Join EHC and clean air avocates around the state in urging California to adopt a strong policy that shifts trucks, trains and ships away from pollution and creates #healthyhoods for us all.

Please sign the petition now!

Last week, SANDAG has had their Regional Transportation Plan (passed in 2011) rejected a second time by an appeals court for failing to offer plans that address how future planning will decrease air quality and contribute to climate change. 

The court has stated, as our community has advocated for, that San Diego needs a plan that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from car traffic. 

SANDAG will be making a decision soon on whether or not to use more of our public funds to challenge the court’s ruling. Or, SANDAG can chose to do the right thing and move forward with a plan that prioritizes transit, biking and pedestrian projects first.

Choosing to fight the courts' findings will continue to waste taxpayer funds and further entrench the San Diego region in an unsustainable, unhealthy and inefficient transportation future.

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) recently voted to expand our freeways by adding carpool lanes and bus-only lanes. Research shows that even coupling freeway expansion with carpooling and transit is not an effective way to relieve traffic congestion. As transportation justice advocates we know the solution to our meeting our transportation needs in a clean and healthy way means increased public transit, bicycling and walking paths before we resort to freeway expansion.

Freeway expansion doesn’t relieve traffic congestion.

Expanded freeways lead to more driving, more pollution and more greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. Freeway expansion does not lead to less traffic. Repeat: Freeway expansion does not lead to less traffic. A study at UC Berkley covering thirty California counties between 1973 and 1990 found that for every ten percent increase in roadway capacity, traffic increased nine percent with a four years’ time. If we build the roads, cars will fill them.

Freeway expansion doesn’t support our economy.

Did you know expanding only one to two miles of state route 94 costs a whopping $500-600 million? Alternatively, this money could go to significant public transit upgrades that would stimulate our economy much more than freeway expansion. Research affirms that for every $10 million invested in public transit...

• Over 570 jobs are created in transit operation
• Business sees a $30 million increase in sales
• $15 million is saved by both highway and transit users

Freeway expansion worsens air quality and the effects of climate change.

Adding lanes to a freeway (even carpool lanes) still increases the amount of pollution each freeway emits. More lanes mean more cases of asthma, heart disease and cancer for communities near freeways who are already overburdened with poor air quality.

Why building new roads doesn't ease congestion (An excerpt from Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream). By. Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. North Point Press, 2000, pp. 88-94. 

Litman, Todd. Generated Traffic and Induced Travel Implications for Transport Planning. 24 April 2014. Victoria Transport Policy Institute. 

Snyder, Tanya . Study: Building Roads to Cure Congestion Is an Exercise in Futility. May 31, 2011. 

Downs, Anthony. Why Traffic Congestion Is Here to Stay... and Will Get Worse. Access. NUMBER 25, FALL 2004

Public Transportation and the Nation’s Economy: A Quantitative Analysis of Public Transportation’s Economic Impact; Prepared by Cambridge Systematics, Inc. with Economic Development Research Group

Do you believe all neighborhoods should have equal access to alternative transportation and no communities should be overburdened with the pollution from cars on neighborhood streets or freeways?

Welcome to the team of transportation justice advocates. We need your help. 

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) plays a critical role in transportation justice because it determines what our streets look like. It decides where we get trolley stops, how much public transit costs and where bicycling and walking paths go, to name a few.

As transportation justice advocates, we demand to see transit and active transportation (biking/walking infrastructure) prioritized before we begin building more roads and expanding our freeways. We need what we're calling a transit first plan. Read below to learn more about how you can make your voice heard for your community.

What does the transportation justice community want?

We want SANDAG to:

• Adopt a plan for San Diego that prioritizes transit projects that specifically benefit overburdened communities
• Postpone freeway projects to the end of the plan because they will most negatively impact overburdened communities
• Put the transit first plan through the same review process as the other plans to ensure it's considered an equal option.

The good news:

SANDAG is developing a plan in response to the commnunity's demand for transit and active transportation (biking/walking infrastructure) projects in the early stages of the plan. This is a good thing and what the community has asked for. However, this plan hasn't completely reflected what the community needs.

The not-so-good news:

This plan falls short by scheduling freeway projects to be built at the same time as transit and active transportation options. 

This is a big problem.

Building freeways before transit and active transportation systems are fully functional is problematic for a variety of reasons.

It will deter people from using transit, negatively impact air quality and further contribute to climate change in our communities which already suffer from high air pollution and asthma rates. We want to see transit projects implemented before building freeways. This way, we can see the full the effect of our new transit systems and then evaluate if we need to expand freeways at all. 

Additionally, every plan has to undergo a thorough review process. If the transit first plan doesn't go through this, it cannot be an option for SANDAG to implement when the time comes. As of right now, only the freeway-heavy plans are being reviewed; meaning only the freeway-heavy are viable options.

We can't let the transit first plan become just another planning document that sits on the shelf. We demand it be reviewed and proposed as a real option for SANDAG to consider.

Want to get involved? 

We hope you do. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to join the transportation justice movement: (619) 474 0220 x 130.

What is going on with transportation justice?

SANDAG is in the process of composing the Regional Transportation Plan which determines how, when and which transportation projects will get funding for the next 35 years. Currently, they're considering scenarios that prioritize freeway expansion while our community residents have prioritized bicycling, walking and public transit instead.

On Friday, September 12, nearly 50 community residents supported a transportation justice network scenario that puts people first by investing in transit, bicycling, and walking projects prior to freeway expansion. Despite great opposition, the SANDAG Board voted to move forward with a scenario focusing heavily on freeway expansion.

As a result of the residents who protested the freeway-focused scenarios, SANDAG is considering developing a network scenario that puts bicycling, walking and public transit first, but it wouldn't be on the table for consideration to be implemented for at least another four years. For decades, Los Angeles invested in freeway expansion as a means of traffic congestion relief, yet this type of planning and investment only yielded more traffic, gridlock and air pollution. Let's not have the San Diego region learn the same hard lesson that our northern neighbor did. Let's be proactive and implement a plan that puts transit, bicycling and walking first.

A community resident from City Heights said it best, "Freeways can wait, but the community can't." Freeway expansion is hazardous to our region's health, safety, quality of life, economy and future. We need a Regional Transportation Plan that puts people first, not cars.

What can we do about it?
Become engaged in developing a transportation justice network scenario, which puts transit, bicycling and walking investments first. We need you to join us in demanding San Diego prioritize public transit, bicycling and walking before freeway expansion. You can speak up today by sending the below email to advocate for transportation justice. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Suggested Text:

As a resident of San Diego, I support a network scenario that includes development of public transit, bicycling and walking projects first over the next ten-year period, halting any freeway expansion until the transit system is fully built and operational. I hope to see these initiatives focused first on the San Diego urban core and overburdened communities most effected by the lack of affordable and efficient transit options.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Recipients:

• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – General comment to be submitted to entire board
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – Project manager for the RTP
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – Transportation Committee Chair
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – Regional Planning Committee Chair
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – SANDAG Board President

For more information, contact Monique Lopez This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone: 619-474-0220 x 130.

Thank you for supporting transportation justice!

Nearly two-thirds of San Diegans surveyed prefer to invest in public transit, bicycling and walking paths before freeway expansion, yet SANDAG has prioritized freeway expansion. At a press conference last week, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), 15 supporting organizations and residents asked SANDAG to consider a third transportation scenario that deprioritizes freeway expansion.

Speakers, including Monique Lopez of EHC, Bruce Reznik of San Diego Housing Federation and Alicia Sebastian of the MAAC Project, specified what a third scenario includes and explained why public transit, bicycling and walking paths are the first step toward transportation that works for all community members.

The third scenario represents an opportunity to improve air quality and quality of life for residents of underserved neighborhoods who can't afford public transit, struggle with hours of daily commuting and can't safely walk or bike on existing streets.

It's time for the City of San Diego to secure a healthy future in the face of environmental changes. Tell the Mayor and City Council to prepare our communities for the effects of climate change, and read more information below.

Here's the not so good news:

Low-income communities of color have long been on the front lines of pollution from dirty energy, transportation and more, and now we're being hit first and worst by climate change. With a lack of financial resources and access to affordable healthcare, our community is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This includes:

• Longer and hotter heat waves
• Poor air quality
• Frequent extreme storms
• More expensive water prices
• Diminishing fresh water supply
• Rapidly rising sea levels

Here's the good news:

We can take action now to reduce pollution and the effects of climate change in San Diego with simple changes in our daily lives. The choices we make today—like biking and walking more, using less water and energy and choosing environmentally sustainable products— are little things that have a large impact on our community's health.

We also need strong and immediate government leadership. EHC has worked for years with the City of San Diego on a Climate Action Plan that reduces pollution and protects us from the harmful effects of climate change. In February 2014, the City released a draft plan with strong potential to protect a healthy future for San Diego.

Now we need your help to finalize the plan. Sign our letter and ask the city to prepare us for the environmental effects of climate change by approving an enforceable Climate Action Plan that: 

• Gives San Diegans a clean energy choice
• Puts solar in all communities
• Makes our homes green, healthy and efficient
• Ensures safe, clean, convenient and affordable public transit
• Provides walkable and bikeable neighborhoods for all by investing in communities most overburdened by air pollution, transportation inequity and climate impacts
• Creates good-paying, local jobs for residents

What will your community look like in 50 years? 100 years? Join other San Diegans in supporting a sustainable city- sign our letter today.

What is climate change?

Climate change can't be seen or touched, but every day our families are affected by it. The thick, dirty air and emissions from cars, industries and the generation of electricity harm our environment. The pollution causes heat waves, wildfires and flooding, putting public health at serious risk. Click here or on the image below to read our billingual brochure and learn more about how climate change affects your family and what you can do to can help.

How does it affect your family's health?

Climate change makes it hard to breathe. The air triggers asthma attacks, causing children to miss school and parents to miss work.
Climate change creates longer and more severe heat waves. Hot weather makes it harder to spend time outdoors. Children, seniors and homes without air conditioning are threatening the most by the heat.
Climate change causes drought, reducing our access to fresh water and increasing the risk of wildfires.
Climate change adds to sea-level rise, which threatens out homes and coastal communities with floods.

Take action in your community.
Stand up for clean air and healthy changes in your community, such as:

• Solar panels on our rooftops
• Safe and affordable public transit
• Walkable and bikeable neighborhoods
• Good paying, local jobs
• Reduction of air pollution from industries

Take public transit or ride your bicycle instead of driving a car.

Take action at home.
You can reduce pollution right now by making your home energy efficient:

• Unplug items when you are not using them, including cell phone chargers, TVs and coffee machines
• Turn off the lights when not in use
• Take five–minute showers
• Use curtains to keep your house cool/warm

Together, we can reduce pollution in our community and at home. Contact your healthcare professional for more information. (Back to top)

Each of us is a commuter. We commute to work, to school, to the grocery store and to the homes of our friends and family, making transportation an important issue affecting our everyday lives. It is not why we commute, but how we commute that matters. 

Our transportation choices impact our public health, with cars polluting our air and catalyzing climate change and environmental health hazards. When we take public transit or ride our bicycle, we reduce our risk for pollution and pollution-related illnesses, such as asthma.

Unfortunately, not all communities have the same access to healthy and safe transportation options, such as public transit and biking and walking paths. Increased access to sustainable, safe and affordable transportation options means increased access to well-paying jobs, good schools and affordable housing options. In short, better transportation options mean better quality of life.

These safe, reliable and affordable transportation options are what we call transportation justice. Transportation justice means all neighborhoods have equal access to alternative transportation and no communities are overburdened with the pollution from cars on neighborhood streets or freeways. It means that the risk of being hit by a car is reduced because bike paths and sidewalks are plentiful. It means public transit is affordable, accessible and convenient and families don't have to walk an hour to the grocery store because they can't afford to take the bus. It means a person does not have to travel two hours each way on the bus to get to and from work, when the same trip a car ride would only take 20 minutes.

Goals of the transportation justice movement include:

• Accessibility – Increase transportation options and affordability giving community member's greater access to goods, jobs and services.
• Increased public health and safety - Improve infrastructure that reduces air pollution and pedestrian and bicyclist collisions by cars. 
• Equity in investment and benefits – Prioritize transportation investments for historically underserved communities and there is an equitable distribution of transportation benefits by providing high quality services to all.

In 2014, elected officials from the San Diego region work to determine how to best invest money in transportation and what the future of transportation options should look like. Get involved to make your voice heard and ensure transportation justice for all. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more information or get involved: (619) 474-0220 ext. 130.

Please read the original post by California Environmental Justice Alliance here. 

President Obama recently announced his new plan to address climate change. The plan proposes new rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's remaining coal fired power plants. Announced through the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Power Plan by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the President and the EPA propose to cut carbon dioxide pollution from the nation's existing power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The President's plan includes goals to accelerate clean energy through increased funding for technology and doubling wind and solar electricity generation by 2020. It intends to promote energy efficiency and conservation in homes, businesses, and factories by increasing loans for energy efficiency and conservation and setting targets for cutting energy waste in multi-family homes. 

A climate plan needs bold environmental justice provisions

A successful national climate plan must start with the communities most directly impacted. Communities of color are often left out of the benefit of environmental and energy policies, while struggling with the health and quality of life impacts of fossil fuel use and production on a daily basis. Although President Obama's plan takes a big step forward and includes a section on environmental justice saying the EPA has taken comments from environmental justice communities nationally, it is vague in how it will address impacts on low-income communities of color who already bear the burden of dirty energy and are first in line to feel the impacts of climate change.

Especially as the Environmental Protection Agency just celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Executive Order on Environmental Justice and released a new "strategy" to achieving environmental justice, called "Plan EJ", Obama's plan merely says that "the EPA will consider environmental justice issues." The plan must be more specific and bold as to how it will address environmental justice.

In order for President Obama's Climate Plan to help our country make the transition we desperately need, it must start with the communities who are most highly impacted by our dirty energy economy.

Don't be fooled by natural gas

The President is also solely focused on transitioning off coal power plants using primarily natural gas, a fossil fuel and one form of dirty energy. While coal must be phased out, it is a dangerous and faulty move to replace coal with natural gas. Natural gas power plants are often located in poor communities and are extremely detrimental to our climate and health. Natural gas releases dangerous levels of greenhouse gases, including methane which has 20 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide. The President and the EPA need to set aggressive targets to transition to 100 percent renewable energy, instead of relying on dirty energy.

By focusing on natural gas a "bridge fuel", the President and the EPA encourage extreme oil and natural gas extraction techniques. In California, communities experience extreme oil and gas extraction in examples such as the Chevron oil refinery in poor Laotian and Black communities in Richmond to fracking in Latino communities in the Central Valley and to the massive build out of dirty gas plants in Southern California. The Presidents' support for natural gas is particularly out of touch with environmental justice communities who have demanded to transition off of fossil fuel for years.

Yes to clean energy, but let's make it local

The California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) and EHC applaud President Obama for his goal of increasing solar and wind in the nation. We also challenge the President to increase local distributed generation (such as rooftop solar), especially in communities most impacted and disadvantaged communities. Low-income communities and communities of color rarely benefit from large scale solar and wind farms, and these projects can have their own negative health impacts. By focusing on local distributed generation, our communities can reap the health and climate benefits, and get the advantage of the local economic and job development.

CEJA and EHC appreciate Obama's plan to increase standards and funding for efficiency and conservation, and urge that the nation follow California's example by creating a clear "hierarchy" of energy saving strategies: prioritize conservation, demand response, energy efficiency and renewable energy, before any natural gas is considered.

CEJA and EHC applaud President Obama for his new climate plan, but encourages the President, the Environmental Protection Agency and Congress to make a clear commitment to two of the most critical elements to any successful climate change plan: ensuring benefits for the communities most directly impacted, and ending all dirty energy, including extreme oil and natural gas extraction. While the current plan takes important steps, only with these elements will we be able to truly save our climate.

The wildfires in San Diego recently have been nothing short of unpredictable and scary. For the past week we have been eyeing our backyards with suspicious caution and watching the news with angst. Our hearts go out to the families and communities that have been affected by these tragic fires.

These wildfires are one example of how much harm climate change is having on our region, and why we are asking San Diego to take immediate action on a strong climate plan that will prepare residents for the effects of climate change and reduce the pollution that causes climate change. 

But these effects are not only a concern to San Diego. On May 6, the White House released its third National Climate Assessment to give the most updated scientific report on how climate change is directly impacting different areas of the country. The report identifies impacts on the Southwest, including:

• Snowpack and streamflow amounts are projected to decline in parts of the Southwest, decreasing surface water supply reliability for cities, agriculture, and ecosystems. (p. 78)
• Increased warming, drought, and insect outbreaks, all caused by or linked to climate change, have increased wildfires and impacts to people and ecosystems in the Southwest. (p. 78)
• Short-term (seasonal or shorter) droughts are expected to intensify in most U.S. regions. Longer-term droughts are expected to intensify in large areas of the Southwest, southern Great Plains, and Southeast. (p. 42)

For a comprehensive list of how drastically climate change is affecting our environment, our communities and our everyday lives, click here. 

Climate change is something that affects us all. These wildfires, the rising temperatures, the drought and much more are making it harder for us to enjoy where we live with the people we care about. Join us in urging the City of San Diego to adopt a plan that wastes no time in reducing the pollution that causes climate change and preparing us for the unavoidable effects of climate change. Click here to learn more and find out how you can do your part to reduce pollution and donate to EHC today to help us ensure our region takes strong and immediate action to combat climate change.

Come to tomorrow night's open house at the Port of San Diego and demand clean air, healthy communities and environmental justice become priorities for the next 50 years in San Diego. The workshop runs from 6-8 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center (140 East 12th St, National City, 91950.) 

Click here for EHC's suggested talking points. 

We have a great opportunity to get involved in shaping the future of our community. The Port is currently developing its guidelines and plan for the next 50 years. While it has taken some actions to address the negative impacts of its pollution on Barrio Logan and Old Town National City -- which experience some of the highest cumulative pollution impacts in the state-- we need it to adopt a clear commitment to clean air, healthy communities and environmental justice in San Diego. Clean air, healthy communities, and environmental justice are not too much to ask.

We want the Port to commit to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on its neighbors as it continues to grow and develop.

Please attend on Tuesday, April 22 or Wednesday, April 30 and let the Port know we care about clean air, healthy communities and environmental justice today and for the future of our children. If you are unable to make the workshops, you can still make your voice heard by taking the five minute survey. 

Click here for more information on the open houses.

Did you know the Port of San Diego oversees 5,333 acres of public land? Of that 5,333 acres, 3,520 are water and 1,813 are land along the shore. Yet only eight percent of the 5,333 acres is parks, while 70 percent is currently "leasable land," also known as available space for big, industrial manufacturers or hotels and commercial operations.

Can you imagine how different San Diego would be if more than eight percent of the Port's 5,333 acres included parks, paths, benches, viewpoints and more for community members? 

We have a chance to tell the Port that is what we want. Now, the Port of San Diego is asking for our feedback as it drafts a new plan for land and water use for the next 50 years. Eight environmental organizations came together to recommend guiding principles to include in the Port's vision for the San Diego Bay, and now we must join them and make the community voice heard even louder. 

Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey (also available in Spanish) and let the Port know you want:

• Clean air
• Clean water
• Safe, reliable and accessible public transit
• Protection of natural resources in and along the Bay
• Increased recreational opportunities along the Bay, including access to the waterfront, parks and more

With your help, we can request the Port of San Diego lead the way in environmental justice. The Port has an opportunity to set an excellent example for the city by prioritizing nearby residential communities and pollution reduction, just as they did with the recent start-up of Shorepower on the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal. 

EHC has already prepared its recommendations, now it's your turn to recommend the Port take action by:

• Pursuing immediate action to improve public health by reducing air and environmental pollution
• Ensuring that Port and tenant operations don't continue to negatively effect the health and safety of adjacent residential communities
• Commiting to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on Barrio Logan and National City
• Proactively ensuring that ecology of San Diego Bay is enhanced, not degraded, over the next 50 years
• Adopting clean air and clean freight policies that are aggressive and effective
• Implementing the Climate Action Plan and meet local pollution reduction goals and develop a plan to protect areas from sea level rise and other effects of climate change

Join us in specifically asking the Port to make San Diego's next 50 years clean, safe and healthy – a future we all deserve.

Tired of seeing your energy bills go up while your air keeps getting polluted from dirty power plants? Brace yourself; we might be in for more of both. On top of the rate hikes proposed for low-energy users to help out the energy hogs, we're likely to see rake hikes from new gas plants too.

Here's the scoop:

A few weeks ago, the California Public Utilities Commission— the state agency that regulates large energy providers like San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)— voted in San Francisco to approve SDG&E's application for Pio Pico— an unnecessary gas power plant in Otay Mesa. This will cost SDG&E's customers (that's you) $1.6 Billion in rate increases, plus the rising cost of the gas itself, plus the 685,626 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year, or about 130,000 cars-worth of climate change causing pollutants.

Less than a week later, the California Public Utilities Commission announced a draft plan to let SDG&E replace the now-closed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station with 1.6 times more power than we got from the generating station in the first place. What's worse is that they're proposing to allow SDG&E to produce that power with polluting gas. The Commission may vote on this proposal in just a few weeks, again in San Francisco.

So what's the problem?

We shouldn't pay to build more power than we need.
Pio Pico isn't necessary to keep the lights on, neither is the state's proposal to replace the generating station with way more energy than we need. Building more energy than we need—dirty or clean—comes at a cost because we'll be paying for all that infrastructure whether we use the power or not.

We shouldn't approve new gas plants during a gas shortage.
Somewhere in between the state's approval of gas-fired Pio Pico and the unveiling of the plan to let gas plants replace the generating station, SDG&E had to ask customers to reduce their energy use due to a shortage of gas reserves. Seriously.

San Diegans deserve to be heard by our public decision-makers. 
San Diegans and southern Californian's have made clear in polls and local rallies they want to see more clean energy in their neighborhoods, not fossil fuels. But our voices are not making it up to San Francisco, where the California Public Utilities Commission is deciding our energy future. Travelling to San Francisco to influence Commission decisions is business-as-usual for SDG&E and parent company Sempra, as is made clear by their lobbying report; but for the average resident the cost and time of the trek is prohibitive. We asked the Commission for a local hearing on Pio Pico and on the replacement plan for the generating station, but our requests have been denied. Is it fair that the utility and its gas-peddling parent company are the only "locals" who can afford to have their voices heard?

What's the solution? 

We should replace the generating station with clean, renewable energy, when needed.
At a time when Californians— especially low-income communities of color— are increasingly feeling climate change impacts, we can't afford to allow more polluting and expensive gas plants that harm our climate, our health, and our wallets. Gas plant prices are on the rise and they pollute; clean energy costs keep dropping and it doesn't pollute our air. Shouldn't this be an easy choice? Let's make a firm commitment.

We deserve better.
For the sake of our health, our future, our wallets San Diegans deserve for our decision makers to make a firm commitment to clean energy, not leave the door wide open for the utilities to build more gas plants and hike our rates at their discretion.

And for the sake of democracy, local residents deserve to have a say in what kind of energy produced their region and powers their homes and businesses.

We demand better!
Join EHC, the California Environmental Justice Alliance, and communities around the state in demanding a clean energy future! Sign the petition today!

The Port of San Diego is drafting its plan to guide land and water use for the next 50 years, and we must make our voices heard. On Tuesday, February 18 and Wednesday, February 19, community members have the opportunity to provide feedback at the two-night Integrated Planning Workshop.

We need your help to make sure the Port's 50-year plan steers San Diego towards a clean, safe and healthy future.

Join us to request the Port of San Diego lead the way in environmental justice and set an example by prioritizing nearby residential communities and pollution reduction. Together, let's ask the Port of San Diego to:

• Pursue immediate action to address climate change by reducing air and environmental pollution.
• Ensure that its operations don't continue to negatively effect the health and safety of adjacent residential communities.
• Commit to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on Barrio Logan and National City.
• Proactively ensure that San Diego Bay is enhanced, not degraded, over the next 50 years.
• Adopt clean air and clean frieght policies that are aggresive and effective.
• Implement the Climate Action Plan and meet local pollution reduction goals.

Please join us!

Tuesday, February 18, 6-8 p.m.
B Street Cruise Ship Terminal
1140 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego 
(Parking is available on the Pier)

Wednesday, February 19, 6-8 p.m.
Norman Park Senior Center
270 F St, Chula Vista 

If you can't make the meeting but would still like to give input for the planning process, submit your comments here. 

Last week, I received an email alert from SDG&E announcing the Reduce Your Use Day and customers were asked to conserve energy. I was surprised  because these days typically occur on San Diego's hottest summer days, when energy-hogging air conditioners are running to maximum capacity. Reducing our energy consumption at those times helps SDG&E avoid the need to turn on additional polluting "peaker" power plants to meet demand and also avoid blackouts.

But it's "winter" now in San Diego and that means we have comparatively low energy consumption; so why did SDG&E call a Reduce Your Use Day?

Because there's a nationwide shortage of natural gas—the fuel that powers most of San Diego's electricity— due to cold weather in other parts of the U.S., leaving SDG&E and other Southern California utilities scrambling for gas reserves.

The particular irony of this gas shortage is that it comes just several days after the California Public Utilities Commission approved SDG&E's 25-year contract for a new gas plant, "Pio Pico", in Otay Mesa. To make matters worse, when they applied for Pio Pico's approval, SDG&E told customers that gas-burning Pio Pico would make our electricity system more reliable, but now they're telling us they don't have a reliable supply of gas.

Which is it?

Last week's gas shortage should make the California Public Utilities Commission and our elected officials give serious consideration as to whether expanding our reliance on gas-fired power plants makes our electricity system more reliable, as the utilities claim, or if these all too common gas market fluctuations actually makes us more vulnerable to price shocks and potential outages.

Instead of rushing to approve more risky gas plants, our state and our utilities should prioritize reliable sources of clean, local energy like energy storage, solar and efficiency.

We still don't think Pio Pico should have been approved. But at the very least, the buck (the $1.6B buck) should stop there. Moving forward, let's use the retirement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station as an opportunity to reduce dependence on risky gas-fired power and instead shift to reliable, local and modern clean energy technology.

Chula Vista City Councilmember Pamela Bensoussan recently urged the California Public Utilities Commission to deny a fossil fuel power plant proposed for Otay Mesa, an area of existing high pollution levels,  known as Pio Pico. 

Councilmember Bensoussan's letter expresses concern that Pio Pico would further burden the community with additional pollution and "repeats a familiar pattern of concentrating the region's polluting activities in South County." She also cites concern about the project's impact on climate change and on the community's choice to secure clean energy.

Thank you Councilmember Bensoussan for standing up for health and clean energy in our communities!

Here's how you can take a stand and join her:

• Sign this petition to tell our state's energy regulators you don't want the polluting Pio Pico power plant in San Diego.
• Sign this letter to elected officials who represent the South Bay area to ask them to take a stand against Pio Pico.

Learn more about Pio Pico here.