Advocacy - Regional Transportation Plans Are Limited in Renewable Energy

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has been tasked with creating "Sustainable Community Strategies" (SCS) under a law known as SB 375.  SB 375 was enacted to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from automobiles and light trucks through integrated transportation, land use, housing and environmental planning. Using the regional GHG emissions reduction targets set by the California Air Resources Board (ARB), SCAG is tasked with developing a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS), a newly required element of the 2012 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) that sets a plan for meeting the GHG emissions reduction targets.

SCAG has drafted a Regional Transportation Plan that spans from 2012 to 2035. There's a tremendous amount of data and reporting going on. But, if you'd like, you can read the entire plan here. You can also visit the draft plan's page at this location - it's much easier to break it down into sections.

The bottom line is this: There is only one mention of renewable energy throughout the entire draft report.

Page 81 says "The [Preliminary Environmental Impact Report] also includes mitigation measures relating to energy designed to reduce consumption and increase the use and availability of renewable sources of energy in the region. Since these measures not only reduce energy consumption but also reduce GHG emissions they are addressed above under GHG."

Public comment ends on Tuesday, February 14. I would encourage everyone to fill out the public comment form in support of renewable energy.

SCAG had an Energy Working Group that was active in this issue up until 2007. Encouraging SCAG to bring back the Energy Working Group to help build some renewable energy infrastructure in Orange County and all of Southern California would be a step in the right direction.

For more questions or comments, please contact Mike Harmanos.