Vote for the Climate

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Éva Milan Engel.

Election season is upon us, and as voters decide who will become the next mayor of Los Angeles, I ask you to add the climate to your list of considerations. I interviewed both mayoral candidates, developer Rick Caruso and U.S. Representative Karen Bass, about their plans to combat the climate crisis.

Engel: Will you commit to converting all of LA’s municipal vehicles, such as buses, police, ambulance and maintenance vehicles, to electric? And by what target date?

Caruso: I would support that goal and I am aware the City Council is working on a plan to establish a feasibility date as well as cost estimates. I know the city’s fleet is massive, ranging in the tens of thousands, however we must quickly and efficiently work to replace the fleet where feasible and ensure we have the charging infrastructure to support it. With the massive infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden, we should have the funds available to us to pay for it.

Bass: The climate crisis is among the greatest challenges facing our city—and it’s an important opportunity for Los Angeles to rebuild its infrastructure. That includes working toward transitioning our city’s municipal vehicles like buses to electric power.

Tailpipe emissions from cars and heavy-duty vehicles have consistently led our region to have the poorest air quality of any in California. In my climate platform that you can read on my website, I lay out my plan to work to eliminate harmful emissions from fossil-based fuels used to power our transportation systems and replace them with clean alternatives.

But our next mayor should go beyond looking at just municipal vehicles—that’s why I will expand the network of EV charging stations throughout Los Angeles and spur collaboration between the Department of Water and Power, community-based organizations and other relevant city agencies as well as the private sector to help lower-income drivers purchase EVs.

We need to realize the economic impact this will have as well. The way I hope to implement this plan will create jobs installing and maintaining EV charging stations by expanding job training—particularly in underserved communities—and ensure that small and minority-owned businesses can participate in the rapid growth of the charging network.

Air pollution is putting our children in the ER with asthma. Wildfires jeopardize our homes. The perennial drought threatens to upend our businesses and communities.

Substantially reducing our carbon footprint is non-negotiable. Adapting to the changing climate is the only way we can protect the health and livelihood of all Angelenos.

Engel: Many areas of the city are treeless asphalt deserts that absorb heat and worsen the effects of global warming, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Will you commit to planting and maintaining three million trees in LA?

Caruso: We’ve seen commitments to plant large amounts of trees before and how those goals have not been met. While I support the idea and rationale behind the number, I would not commit to a specific number until I better understand the impacts it would have on water usage and costs.

Let me be clear, I will work aggressively to fight heat islands and install cool streets to reduce the impacts of heat islands, but I cannot commit to a number of tree plantings without more analysis.

Bass: Part of our strategy to address climate change should be keeping our city cool, and expanding urban greening is a tactic I will employ as the next mayor.

As temperatures rise, Los Angeles’ deficient tree canopy presents a public health risk. In addition to planting and stewarding new trees, protecting existing trees from unnecessary removal and harm is essential to meeting climate goals. I will be a champion for growing and protecting our urban forest, will expand the use of California native plants and trees on city-run properties, and will utilize the planting of trees in addition to other strategies like cool roofs and cool streets as a key tool to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat.

I will also partner with LAUSD and the Los Angeles Living Schoolyards Coalition to bring more plants and trees to our school campuses in order to support the greening of our city’s asphalt-covered playgrounds. Providing access to nature at school leads to environmental and academic benefits.

I will also invest in access to pools and summer youth programming to provide children and families with safe and enjoyable opportunities to escape the heat.

Engel: Many of LA’s water sources are running dry. The Colorado River and reservoirs like Lake Mead are at historically low levels. What laws and other ordinances will you pass to reduce water consumption and ensure sources of water to keep life sustainable in LA for the next 50 years?

Caruso: We must work to aggressively require greywater systems in multifamily residential systems as well as other means of water recycling for non-potable water usage. In addition we need to quickly expand our purple pipe water system to make more recycled water available for industrial and commercial uses to ensure potable water is not being used for non-drinking water uses. I would also explore mandating drip system irrigation and drought tolerant planting for all new residential and commercial uses.

Bass: California is now experiencing the worst drought in recorded history, and climate change is a big part of the reason why. Our warming climate means we will see a smaller snowpack, more severe heat and longer droughts. Climate change is here, and we need to address it.

Los Angeles can no longer count on the imported supplies we’ve relied upon in the past and so my top priority will be adapting our aging water infrastructure to 21st-century conditions. I will leverage my experience working on water issues at the state and federal levels to modernize our aging water infrastructure and make sure Angelenos can always trust the water that comes out of their tap.

Now of course there’s no one solution—but by choosing a strategic balance, with investments in strategies like water conservation, landscape transformation, rainwater capture, groundwater recharge and the protection of our imported supplies, we will ensure a more sustainable water future.

Working on water issues isn’t new to me. As Speaker of the Assembly, I led the effort to update California’s water policy for the first time in half a century and advanced a historic water bond to shore up our state’s water supply. In Congress, I helped pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which included more than $8 billion for water initiatives in the West alone, including $1 billion for water recycling and more than $1 billion for water storage and groundwater storage projects.

Water is vital for life and we as a city need to treat it as such.

Engel: To Caruso, as a property developer, name three things you have done to reduce all fossil fuel consumption in your buildings, and do you support removing natural gas-powered appliances in all new housing and installing rooftop solar?

Caruso: I’m proud to have one of the only Gold LEED Certified open air shopping centers in the country at Palisades Village. I strive to make all my developments low impact with the use of PV solar energy systems, battery backups, and groundwater capture and cistern systems in the outdoor areas. I do support removing natural gas-powered appliances in new housing developments and installing rooftop solar.

Engel: To Bass, as a member of Congress for many years, what have you done over the past decade (not just this year) to fight global warming with Federal legislation? Have you introduced any meaningful bills on this issue?

Bass: As I said above, climate change is one of, if not the, greatest threat facing our communities and our planet. Throughout my time in the State Assembly and in Congress, I have advocated for strong environmental protections, environmental justice for underserved communities and a just transition.

In Congress, I have helped pass numerous pieces of legislation to reduce carbon emissions and protect our planet—recently including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to LA for clean drinking water, transit, electric vehicle charging stations and other infrastructure projects. In Sacramento, I took similar action to ensure that our state is a leader when it comes to fighting back against climate change.

But too often, this is thought of as an issue that can only be addressed legislatively, when really this is an issue that impacts certain communities every day. I have always approached environmental issues through an equity lens and advocated accordingly.

When I learned that oil wells operated by Allenco Energy Inc. in the University Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles were harming our air and causing damaging health impacts for families and children, I called for an immediate investigation. Working with former Senator Barbara Boxer and the community, the attention we drew to this issue led to the EPA ordering AllenCo to make improvements at its oil and gas pumping facility.

I will bring the same leadership on this important issue to the mayor’s office.