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Category: Environment

  • 2020 Sierra Club Yolano Group Questionnaire and Responses from Davis City Council Candidates

    by Alan Pryor 

    Introduction – Every 2 years the Sierra Club Yolano Group prepares questionnaires for candidates in local races we deem to be seriously contested and/or where there are clear differences between the candidates on matters of interest to the public and/or our local Sierra Club members. We use questionnaires with written responses to allow the candidates to directly express their views and opinions in their own words. We report these in a series of articles on a range of environmentally-related topics. This is Part 1 of the series in which we report candidates' responses to a series of questions regarding energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the City. The candidates responses are initially in alphabetical order based on their first name.

    Part 1  – Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

    1st Question re Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

    Preamble – Davis has declared a Climate Emergency and mandated carbon neutrality by 2040. Often 60% or more of a new project's GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions are due to transportation-related impacts. Some have proposed that developers pay for mitigation of these GHGs because they cause public harm just as sellers of tobacco pay a tax for their associated public harm.  

    Question – Do you support in principal a GHG mitigation fee on new developments in Davis and why or why not?  If yes, do you have any ideas how such a fee might be assessed?

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  • Ormat Technologies Expands Energy Storage Footprint in California

    Signs Agreements with Two California Community Choice Aggregators

    (From press release) Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) announced today that it has signed two resource adequacy agreements, each for 50% of its 5 MW / 20 MWh Tierra Buena battery energy storage project currently under development in Sutter County in Northern California.

    Two community choice aggregators — Valley Clean Energy in Yolo County and Redwood Coast Energy Authority in Humboldt County — each signed an agreement for 2.5 MW of resource adequacy from Ormat’s Tierra Buena energy storage project. Under the 10-year agreements, the project is expected to begin commercial operation no later than June 2022.

    These are the first energy storage deals for the two CCAs, sought in order to comply with a multi-year statewide mandate to add 3.3 GW of incremental resource adequacy to the California grid by 2023.

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  •  DISC will be an Environmental Disaster

    DISC is an Unmitigated Environmental Disaster - Vo 00001 DISC is an Unmitigated Environmental Disaster - Vo 00001(From press release)

    Our world is burning up and melting around us. This year we have seen the largest fires ever in the Pacific Northwest, Siberia, the Amazon, and Australia along with record-breaking ice-melts in Greenland and Antarctica.

    Yet DISC will increase Davis' annual carbon footprint by over 8% – over 83 million pounds per year!…What are they thinking?

    Friday, October 2           Davis, CA

     What is Measure B and the DISC Industrial Park 

    Measure B is on the November 3 ballot in Davis asking to annex 200 acres of Prime farmland into the City and pave it over to build a sprawling car-centric industrial center and 850 housing units.

    This land-use dinosaur would be located on the northeast corner of 2nd St and Mace Blvd just across the street from Ikeda's Market.      

    Read more      

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     DISC will be an Environmental Disaster 

    • The Developer claims the project will be carbon neutral. But according to the project's Environmental Impact Report, "…net emissions in the year 2035 would equal 37,724.31 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, the project would NOT meet the City’s target of net carbon neutrality by the year 2040." This is unacceptable!
    • There is no way the vast bulk of the project's carbon emissions can be reduced on-site. Instead the Developer will rely on purchase of cheap off-site carbon credits or mitigation elsewhere in the City to supposedly become carbon neutral. But this does nothing to actually reduce the City's total carbon emissions. This is deceitful!
    • The Developer falsely claims if DISC isn't built in Davis, it will just be built elsewhere with more greenhouse gas emissions. But all new commercial buildings anywhere in California must meet ever-increasing energy efficiency standards. This is misleading!
    • The Developer claims the project's jobs will be "Green" jobs. But because almost 80% of the greenhouse gases generated from DISC come from the projected 24,000+ daily car trips, DISC would actually have a smaller carbon footprint if built in other locations with superior public transportation access and much shorter commutes for workers. Commuter jobs are NOT "Green"!

    The more we hear about DISC, the more it is clear that Davis will get all of the adverse environmental impacts and the Developers will get all of the profits. It's time to just say "NO"!

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    Sierra Club Endorses No on Measure B – No on DISC

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    For more information, order a lawn sign, or make a donation -  www.VoteNoOnDISC.com

  • Supervisor Provenza Votes to Take Action on Climate

    JIm-Provenza(From press release) At Tuesday's Yolo County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Jim Provenza introduced a resolution on behalf of the Yolo Climate Emergency Coalition, declaring a climate crisis in Yolo County and setting a countywide goal of achieving a carbon negative footprint by 2030.

    The motion was approved, with support of Chair Sandy and Supervisors Villegas and Saylor, joining Provenza. Provenza also brought a separate motion to provide funding for a citizen's advisory body to advise the Board on developing and implementing the new Climate Action Plan. The Yolo County District Attorney agreed to use funds from a special account in his office to cover this cost. It is anticipated that the District Attorney's consumer and environmental unit will be a future partner in these efforts.

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  • Sierra Club Endorses Colin Walsh in District 2 and Kelsey Fortune in District 5

    Sierra Club endorsedFor Davis City Council in the November 2020 election 

    (From press release) This endorsement cites their strong and unequivocal opposition to Measure B which seeks voter approval for the annexation of 200 acres of prime farmland for the proposed DISC mixed use industrial/business park on the outskirts of Davis and their robust positions on a host of other local environmental issues consistent with established Sierra Club policies.

    The endorsement of these candidates follows a thorough review of candidate answers to an extensive questionnaire completed by all of the City Council candidates. While the current Sierra Club endorsement is exclusive to Mr. Walsh and Ms. Fortune, we do thank the other City Council candidates for participation in the process and note that many were generally consistent in their overall support of other environmental initiatives in the City that are important to and supported by the Club. These include, among others:

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  • Pro-DISC letter is misleading

    OSHC ARC resolutionBy Roberta Millstein

    My fellow Open Space and Habitat Commission (OSHC) member, Patrick Huber, writes to defend the environmental status of the Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus (DISC) (see Davis Enterprise letter). I respect Patrick; we have worked well together on the commission for a decade. However, although we have agreed on many things, he provides a partial and thus misleading picture of DISC in his letter.

    On April 23, 2020, the OSHC voted unanimously on a motion, seconded by Patrick, not to recommend DISC (then called ARC) on the grounds that it would result in a substantial net loss of a noteworthy combination of open space values, including: prime agricultural land, open space on the City’s perimeter, habitat for sensitive species such as burrowing owl and Swainson’s hawk, and views of the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento skyline (see adjacent screenshot).

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  • As CA Fires Burn, Yolo County Declares Climate Emergency

    Yolo County Board of Supervisors commits to justice and mobilization

    (From press release) With smoke still rising from one of California's most massive wildfires on record, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to accelerate local climate action and to fund a climate advisory committee tasked with helping the county achieve just and equitable outcomes for marginalized communities and to retool livelihoods.

    Yolo County joins over 1,750 local governments in declaring a climate emergency, part of a decentralized global campaign that has engaged local communities in policymaking.

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  • Yolo County Climate Crisis Resolution

    Contact your County supervisor to express your support

    DC2E0350-A347-417C-9FF2-F070B04A3233By David Abramson

    Tomorrow the Yolo County Board of Supervisors will be voting on a RESOLUTION DECLARING A CLIMATE CRISIS REQUIRING AN URGENT AND INCLUSIVE MOBILIZATION IN YOLO COUNTY.

    We have 91 endorsing organizations and individuals from all across Yolo County. Thank you!!

    🌟To get a strong resolution passed, we need your help!🌟

    🌱Action Item 1: 🌟Write Your County Supervisors🌟

    Please email or call the supervisor representing your district, share your story and express support for the Climate Emergency resolution, Item #37.

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  • Sierra Club Endorses Yes on Measure D

    Sierra Club endorses “The Citizens’ Right to Vote on Future Use of Open Space and Agricultural Lands”

    Sierra Club endorsed(From press release) Citing grounds of “preservation of agricultural lands and open space, in-fill development and densification and citizen oversight of sound land-use planning ", the Sierra Club announces its endorsement and support of Measure D in Davis CA on the November 2020 municipal ballot.

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    Measure D is a ballot measure renewal of an existing City of Davis ordinance, “The Citizens’ Right to Vote on Future Use of Open Space and Agricultural Lands”, which gives the citizens the right to make the final decision on projects proposing to develop open space or agricultural land within or adjacent to the City. It was originally approved by the voters in 2000 as Measure J and overwhelmingly renewed as Measure R in 2010.

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  • Valley Clean Energy Calls for Support for Local Wildfire Victims

    VCEAs wildfires continue to rage throughout California and elsewhere in the West, residents, ranchers and business owners in the greater Winters area are putting their lives back together after seeing their homes and businesses go up in flames.

    Valley Clean Energy, the local electric generation service provider, urges locals to join the agency in offering support in the form of donations to the Greater Winters Fire Relief Fund created by the Rotary Club of Winters. VCE contributed $1,500, and so far, nearly $40,000 has been raised toward a goal of $60,000.

    Many of the fire victims live outside the Winters city limits and are “our friends, our extended family, business owners, and parents to classmates of our children,” says Winters Councilmember Jesse Loren, a member of the VCE board of directors.

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