Bold Leadership for California's Environment

By Jared Huffman

Read about Jared Huffman's agenda for protecting California's environment, and see why he's won every environmental group endorsement in the race, including Seirra Club.

1. Saving our Bays, Rivers and Wetlands

California's rivers, estuaries, and coastal areas are in dire straits. Take the San Francisco Bay-Delta, an estuary of international importance and source of drinking water for 22 million people. Due to excessive water diversions and pollution, the Delta is nearing ecological collapse. Yet Central Valley agribusiness interests want to increase Delta pumping and build new taxpayer-subsidized dams. I'll fight to save the Delta, and threatened rivers like the Russian and the Eel, for future generations. I'll promote cost-effective strategies like conservation and reclamation that improve water supply reliability while protecting our environment. These solutions recognize that preserving our natural wealth is essential to our prosperity.

2. Combating Climate Change

Scientific models show that without bold action to prevent climate change, California will suffer devastating impacts within my children's lifetime: half as much snow-pack, twice the wildfires, and rising sea levels that erode our coast and flood our estuaries. California can lead the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Air Resources Board recently took a step in this direction with regulations to reduce emissions from cars and light trucks. I'll extend similar reforms to other parts of the transportation sector and beyond, including power plants and refineries. At the same time, I'll create incentives for major new investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and cleaner-burning fuels.

3. Fighting the Republican Assault on our Environment

Our most important environmental laws are under blistering attack from President Bush and his allies. Cowboy Congressman Richard Pombo is leading an effort to gut the Endangered Species Act by giving developers and commercial interests priority over endangered wildlife. The Supreme Court is poised to re-interpret the Clean Water Act to remove protections for millions of acres of wetlands and countless tributary streams. And using the pretext of our infrastructure needs, Republicans in Sacramento are seeking broad new exemptions from environmental laws. California's environmental laws are our last line of defense and must be strengthened, not weakened. That includes bolstering California's Endangered Species Act to replace lost federal protections; promoting better planning before species are pushed to the brink; and ensuring the Porter-Cologne Act--which protected us before passage of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972--is broadly applied to all California wetlands and streams. Marin and Sonoma residents understand that these laws protect our natural heritage, our quality of life, and our children's health.

My commitment to the environment is why I've won every environmental group endorsement in this race, including Sierra Club.