45 Environmental Groups Urge Passage of SB100 Early in 2018

Environment California

Governor Jerry Brown
State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

California State Senate
c/o Kevin de León, Senate President pro Tempore
State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95814

California State Assembly
c/o Anthony Rendon, Speaker of the Assembly
State Capitol, Room 219
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Enact 100 Percent Renewable and Zero- Carbon Electricity Policy (SB 100) Early in 2018

Dear Governor Brown and Members of the California State Legislature:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our full support for Senate Bill 100 (De León). Achieving 100 percent renewable and zero-carbon electricity in California by 2045 is extremely important to meeting our climate goals and we urge you to act early in 2018 to pass and sign this critical legislation into law.

Burning fossil fuels is not only polluting our air, water and land, it’s changing our climate even faster than scientists predicted. 

According to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2017 report, California has the undesirable distinction of being home to the majority of the Top 10 U.S. cities with the most ozone and particle pollution. More than 90 percent of Californians live in areas with unhealthy air at some point during the year, a serious public health concern at a time when the federal government is working to roll back clean air protections.

Meanwhile, global warming is already altering the climate in ways that endanger people, ecosystems, and our future. In recent months, the world has seen many extreme weather events, from the hurricanes striking Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico to unusually devastating floods during the monsoon season in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Much closer to home here in California, we all witnessed as deadly wildfires burned more than one million acres, killing dozens of people and leaving nearly 100,000 displaced from their homes. And still, climate scientists warn that even greater impacts are yet to come. 

The good news is that we can we can have healthier communities and strong local economies now, and a livable future for kids growing up today if you enact a 100 percent renewable and zero-carbon electricity policy this year. This legislation would:

• increase the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 60 percent by the end of 2030, and
• establish a new state policy that all electricity must come from renewable and zero-carbon resources by 2045.

Thanks in large measure to your leadership, California is proof that a 100 percent renewable electricity future is within reach. The November 2017 Annual Report on the Renewables Portfolio Standard, issued by the California Public Utilities Commission, finds that the state’s investor-owned utilities are on track to meet the 50 percent RPS by 2020, a full decade earlier than mandated by the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 (SB 350, De León). But, with the need to reduce the pollution that causes global warming growing more urgent every day, we need to raise the bar.

This remarkable momentum is coupled with strong public support for achieving 100 percent renewable electricity, as demonstrated in a July poll by the Public Policy Institute of California finding that SB 100 has the support of 76 percent of Californians, with overwhelming majorities across both parties.

The eyes of the country—and indeed, the world—are on California to lead a swift, steady and complete transition away from the dirty electricity that has been polluting our environment and our communities for far too long, to a 100 percent clean, renewable electricity future. As California is the sixth largest economy in the world, our state has the opportunity to show Washington and the world that it is possible to support a flourishing economy while mitigating climate change.

For all of these reasons, we urge you to act swiftly in 2018 to pass and sign SB 100 into law. We must achieve a 100 percent clean electricity future to protect our health, environment and economy, and set a strong example for other states and countries to follow.

We thank you for your leadership and look forward to working with you on this historic legislation.

Michelle Kinman
Environment California

Susannah Churchill
Vote Solar

Kathryn Phillips
Sierra Club California

Lauren Navarro
Environmental Defense Fund

Victoria Rome
NRDC

Bill Magavern
Coalition for Clean Air

Erica Martinez
EarthJustice

Laura Wisland
Union of Concerned Scientists

Tony Sirna
CALFACT

Laurie Litman
350 Sacramento

Robert Haw
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Pasadena Foothills chapter

Nicole Kemeny
350 Silicon Valley

Alice Stevens
Long Beach 350

Sherry Lear and Damien Luzzo
350 South Bay Los Angeles

Joyce Lane
SanDiego350

Andy Kelly
California League of Conservation Voters

Katy Gurin
350 Riverside

Nick Lapis
Californians Against Waste

Dan Brotman
SoCal 350

RL Miller
Climate Hawks Vote

Deborah Silvey
Fossil Free California

Linda Krop
Environmental Defense Center

Bonnie Holms-Gen
America Lung Association

Judy Pope
350 Bay Area

David Weiskopf
NextGen California

Linda Rudolph, MD, MPH
Center for Climate Change and Health

Gary Hughes
Friends of the Earth – US

Keith Nakatani
Clean Water Action

Linda Khamoushian
California Bicycle Coalition

Bill Allayaud
Environmental Working Group

Alvaro Casanova
Center for Environmental Health

Nicole Capretz
Climate Action Campaign

Howard Penn
Planning and Conservation League

Geoff McQuilkin
Mono Lake Committee

Sandra Fluke
Voices for Progress

Shoshana Wechsler
Sunflower Alliance

Jay Ziegler
The Nature Conservancy

Alan Weiner
350 Conejo/San Fernando Valley

David Kunhardt
SolEd Benefit Corp

Jack Kurzweil
The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

Ted Obbard
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Alameda Chapter

David Lewis
Save The Bay

lora jo foo
No Coal in Oakland

Linda Hutchins-Knowles and Stacy Levy
Mothers Out Front South Bay/San Jose

Robin Ganahl
Mothers Out Front Orange County