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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

July/August 2007

Special Focus:
Regional Agencies Tackle Global Warming Impacts on Bay Area

To kick off efforts to develop a regional approach to climate protection, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District hosted a regional summit (cosponsored by MTC and others) where former Vice President Al Gore delivered in person his now famous message on the threat of global warming. (Photo: Paramount Classics)

Imagine a morning radio traffic report that gives total carbon emissions based on congestion conditions, or the Bay Area’s 511 traveler information system advising,“that trip should take you 40 minutes and will result in about 40 pounds of carbon dioxide,” or, “by choosing to take the bus, you will reduce your potential carbon impact by 40 pounds.”

Such closely monitored greenhouse gas emissions may be commonplace in the not-so-distant future as global warming hits home in the Bay Area. With current projections of dire changes headed our way, MTC and its regional partner agencies on the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) are gearing up to prepare for — and hopefully reduce — some of the worst climate change effects expected to hit the Bay Area by or before the end of the century. (The JPC was formed to coordinate the planning activities of three regional agencies: the Association of Bay Area Governments/ABAG, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District/ BAAQMD and MTC. The Bay Conservation and Development Commission/BCDC recently joined as a nonvoting member.)

The gloomy forecasts include severe water shortages due to a 90 percent decrease in the Sierra snowpack, hotter summers, larger, more frequent wildfires and flooding across 200 square miles of lowland areas — including the San Francisco and Oakland international airports and portions of Interstates 880 and 80 and U.S. 101 — caused by rising sea levels.

“Sea-level rise will have profound economic, environmental, political and social impacts in the Bay Area,” said BCDC Executive Director Will Travis. The Bay Area’s wake-up call to the impacts of global warming was delivered in person by its most famous messenger, former Vice President Al Gore. Speaking at a November 2006 regional Climate Protection Summit organized by the Air District (and cosponsored by MTC and others), Gore warned, “We are witnessing a collision between civilization and our earth. Never have we faced a challenge that could end human civilization.” After painting a vivid picture of climate changes already happening around the world, from increased desertification and wildfires to rapidly melting icecaps and stronger, more frequent hurricanes, Gore issued a direct challenge to the Summit audience: “We have everything we need to solve (global warming), with the possible exception of human will.”

Taking up the challenge, MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger requested that the JPC study the climate change issue and recommend strategies the regional agencies can adopt to prepare for and deal with it. In requesting a report on proposed strategies in six months, Heminger said, “Our regional strategy will need to help prevent more warming than that which is already occurring, and help us adapt to changes we are powerless to prevent.”

As a first step to developing a regional strategy, the JPC held two public workshops in February 2007 that drew more than 250 people (plus countless more listening in on an Internet audiocast) and produced a rich resource of ideas on how the Bay Area can help stem the tide of global warming. These ideas from government and business leaders, key stakeholders, and the general public form the backbone of a proposed Bay Area Regional Agency Climate Protection Program unveiled in May 2007 and under discussion this summer.

Charged to consider actions even beyond the four agencies’ current statutory powers, the JPC has set a high bar for the Bay Area to vault: “to be a model for California, the region and the world” and “to meet and surpass the state’s targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.”

According to JPC Regional Planning Program Director Ted Droettboom, “There is a recognition that if all the Bay Area did was limit our own carbon emissions, this would have a negligible impact on global problems. The region’s real power over global climate change will rest in its ability to innovate and set examples which others will rush to emulate.”

With 50 percent of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions stemming from transportation — mostly motor vehicles — the report emphasizes the need to change driving habits, such as by decreasing unnecessary or excessively long trips. One simple strategy is to increase public awareness by providing residents with real-time feedback on the carbon-emission implications of their travel choices (similar to the example at the beginning of this story).

The report also calls for smart growth that encourages housing, jobs and public transportation located in closer proximity (already a priority of MTC and ABAG) and suggests road-pricing strategies, such as higher gas taxes, vehicle registration fees and tolls — and charging more to drive during peak times.

“There will be a lot of tugging and pulling as we grapple with how to change our laws, how to modify our behavior and how to most productively deal with the rest of the world to address the challenges of climate change,” noted BCDC’s Travis.

Echoed the JPC’s Droettboom, “The traditional notions by which we plan and govern this region may have to be fundamentally altered. We can no longer do business as usual.”
— Marjorie Blackwell

The Bay Area Regional Agency Climate Protection Program is available on the JPC Web site: www.abag.ca.gov/jointpolicy/jpc_climate_change.htm

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