This Wednesday, California’s State Senate proposed a series of clean energy funding initiatives totaling $1.2 billion to address greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector and air pollution in urban environments.
As nicely summarized by Utility Dive: California’s cap-and-trade program has generated more than a billion dollars the state can now earmark for a wide range of pollution-control measures, with a focus on transportation and environmental justice.
“We have the opportunity to follow through on the promise of cap and trade, which is to use polluters’ dollars to clean up the air we breathe,” California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D) said in a statement. “Working families in our most economically disadvantaged and polluted areas deserve to benefit from investments now so they have access to the cleanest technologies and the tools to make their communities more livable.”
De Leon represents Los Angeles County. The plan has support from the American Lung Association and other groups.
The proposal would spend $400 million on low-carbon and low-polluting transportation programs, and another $100 million on strategic transit investments that improve traffic flow. On the urban pollution and environmental justice side, $175 million would go towards creating a “new transformative communities program to convert highly-polluted and high-carbon communities into clean and sustainable communities.”
Another $100 million would be earmarked for energy efficiency upgrades and weatherization for low-income families, and $100 million for urban greening projects.
Click here to get more coverage from Utility Dive; you can also check out coverage in the Sacramento Bee or the Los Angeles Times.