Climate Action Campaign<\/a>, a nonprofit environmental watchdog group seeking to create a zero-carbon future, said that existing protections in San Diego are being threatened. But she added not to worry too much, at least not just yet.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Clean Air Act hasn\u2019t been repealed, and breathing standards and emissions caps are still legally valid,\u201d noted Capretz, adding that Congressional and judicial oversight still applies in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepealing federal rules requires agency action, public notice, and often invites lawsuits, meaning even repealed or weakened protections can be blocked or delayed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Capretz added that there are state-specific health-based limits for ozone and other\u00a0common pollutants like fine particulate matter and nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide. Also, she noted California has auctions for sale of pollution credits, reinvesting those funds back into clean energy and climate-friendly programs.<\/p>\n
Plus, Capretz noted, California has its climate laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Climate Action Campaign, which Capretz started a decade ago, seeks a carbon-neutral future. That refers to\u00a0a state where the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is balanced by the amount removed, resulting in no net increase in atmospheric CO2.\u00a0Achieving this requires a combination of reducing emissions and actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Capretz noted that inflicting federal cuts is more complicated than it appears, pointing out that California has its \u201cown sets of climate and air quality laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that means the federal government can\u2019t completely dismantle local action. \u201cWe still have the opportunity to make (environmental) progress and be a national leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Capretz acknowledged the current federal administration\u2019s rollback of some environmental protections has been \u201ca punch to the gut,\u201d impacting California as well as other states. \u201cThere\u2019s no getting around that,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we still have some laws on the books, and they\u2019re still enforceable.\u201d<\/p>\n
As one example, Capretz noted California has \u201cits own robust set of air quality laws and regulations.\u201d And, she pointed out there is a \u201cprocess\u201d for legally challenging those laws and regulations, which takes time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re focusing on now is worst-case scenarios,\u201d she said. \u201cHow can we still protect clean air through our vehicle-emission standards?\u201d<\/p>\n
Though admitting San Diego\u2019s environmental community feels a \u201clittle beat up,\u201d by the current state of affairs, Capretz urged, \u201cLet\u2019s not give up hope. Let\u2019s continue to lead the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the United States could learn from China, which she noted has conceded there is no future in remaining a \u201cpetrostate,\u201d a country whose economy is heavily reliant on the export of petroleum and natural gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future is electricity, which China is already embracing,\u201d said Capretz. \u201cChina has tripled down on transitioning to a 100% electric economy. They don\u2019t want to be vulnerable to the cycles of the fossil-fuel market.\u201d<\/p>\n
As one example, Capretz pointed out that you \u201cdon\u2019t find a gas-powered car in China. They\u2019re becoming carbon-free, fully transforming their economy and industry while we\u2019re relying on old, outdated energy sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capretz argued the United States ought to be going green too, with all its energy needs. \u201cGreen is now the least-expensive, most-reliable, the most-resilient form of energy,\u201d she said, adding that it ought to be the \u201cHoly Grail\u201d of energy throughout the world.<\/p>\n
Climate Action Campaign<\/p>\n
CAC is a nonprofit environmental watchdog group whose mission is to create a zero-carbon future through\u00a0effective and equitable\u00a0policy action.<\/p>\n
What CAC is doing in 2025: Supporting a historic and unprecedented state legislative package to help lower utility bills and hold utilities accountable, promoting new clean air rules at the San Diego Air Pollution Control District to reduce pollution and improve health, securing commitments from numerous school districts countywide, including San Diego Unified, to transition from gas to electric building appliances \u2013 affecting more than 185,000 students \u2013 and training the next generation of climate advocates with on-the-ground organizing and advocacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2013 Local environmentalists are concerned about just how far the federal government will go in trimming…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":105513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,67862,67863,285,67864,16478,67865,67866,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-105512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-carbon-neutral","12":"tag-climate-action-campaign","13":"tag-climate-change","14":"tag-environmental-watchdog","15":"tag-global-warming","16":"tag-greenhouse-gas","17":"tag-nicole-capretz","18":"tag-san-diego","19":"tag-sandiego","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114943674487547786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}