Environment

By John Lewallen

--by John Lewallen, Independent Candidate for U.S. Congress in California's Northcoast Second Congressional District http://www.johnlewallenforcongress.org

Global Warming

Carbon emissions are causing a global warming trend. We do not know what the worst consequences of this warming will be, nor how the Earth as a whole system will respond.
I propose establishing a Global Warming Response Trust Fund, financed by a tax on carbon emitters, to deal with sea level rise, water supply problems, flooding, and other effects of increased atmospheric carbon.
We need a National Energy Conversion Plan, so we can transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. I support both government employment programs and incentives to private industry to convert to renewable energy sources.

Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise is only one of the many emergencies we may need to deal with. Only a healthy national government and unity of purpose will allow us to finance our basic services and prepare for disaster response.
We need a National Peace Conversion Plan, to convert our economy and society from military production and imperialistic policy to a nation employing people to meet basic human needs
Tax reform is essential. I support a progressive income tax, closing corporate tax loopholes, taxing capital gains the same as ordinary income, and a transaction tax.
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The great environmental laws need constant review and amendment. As a life-long member of the Northcoast environmental community, I will continue to work with environmentalists and other community members to adapt these laws to changing understanding and needs.
Citizens must continue to have the right to sue polluters and/or agencies to enforce these laws and recover court costs. Citizens are vitally interested enforcers of environmental laws.

Environmental Protections/EPA Funding

I believe the Environmental Protection Agency and its counterpart agencies should receive full support and increased funding. The EPA has a $10 billion budget and about 18,000 employees, all protecting us and the natural environment in a myriad of ways. We need this agency; it is the great creation of the environmental movement.

Energy

I will organize the writing of a National Energy Conversion Plan, phasing out carbon emitters and developing renewable energy sources and energy conservation. Nuclear energy should be phased out as rapidly as possible. I favor closing the two nuclear plants in California, but only with a plan to conserve energy and bring on new energy sources to compensate for loss of energy.

Wilderness

I will work with local wilderness area activists to protect national and Northcoast wilderness areas, including those established by the 2006 Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act.
I oppose resource extraction from wilderness areas.
I'm asking Northcoast environmentalists to join me in commitment to tribal cultural survival and restoration in Northern California. The several indigenous tribal cultures here need access for food and ceremony to a healthy ecosystem in order to maintain and restore the ancient human cultures so valuable to all of us.

HR 1837

I strongly oppose HR 1837, which meets the needs of huge corporations bent on exploiting our resources. HR 1837 would federally pre-empt state control over water resources, and give the huge farmers of Southern California a full allotment of water from the Sacramento River in drought years.
This year we must unite to prevent a peripheral canal or canals from being built to transport the Sacramento River around the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem to the San Joaquin canal. The related Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, created with a corrupt process, should be defeated.

Salmon

Restoring Northcoast Watersheds is a major theme of my life's work. The new Second Congressional District includes coastal counties from the Oregon border to the Golden Gate Bridge. Water resource management is the most vital issue we face in this great Northcoast bioregion.
This year's large Sacramento salmon run shows that the salmon will come back if they have quality spawning waters in our great habitat watersheds.
I will work to restore the Bay-Delta Ecosystem by reducing water exports, and organize throughout the district for restoration of the Klamath, Eel, Russian, and other watersheds. Water use efficiency is essential.

Klamath Dams

I support Klamath dam removal. The best way to do this now is a contentious issue involving residents of the Klamath watershed. I will remain in intimate touch with all the Klamath parties to advance restoration of salmon habitat and timely dam removal.

Eel River Dams

I support Eel River dam removal and an end to Eel River water diversion into the Russian River watershed, but only with the agreement of people dependent on the Russian River for essential water. Water conservation and efficiency should be a major theme of all Northcoast politics and environmental action.
Restoring natural Eel River water flow is key to bringing back the salmon habitat.
As I campaign in Marin and Sonoma and all counties in the congressional district, I organize a district-wide movement for watershed restoration. We are all together in this great California Northcoast Bioregion.

Marijuana Production

I'm inviting all environmental and other Northcoast groups to join in a public outcry to end the federal prohibition of marijuana. The war on marijuana is our nation's longest war. Marijuana prohibition brings violence, corruption, economic distortion, and environmental destruction, which every year becomes more dominant in our communities. We should replace unenforceable prohibition with reasonable regulation and taxation, on what may be our largest economic activity here.
I support HR2306, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, which would repeal all federal penalties for production, distribution and possession of marijuana.

Port Development

I oppose a deepwater port and Liquefied Natural Gas Imports on Humboldt Bay. I am committed to defending the Northcoast ocean upwelling ecosystem from all forms of industrialization, pollution, and military testing activities, as one of the world's great, clean, wild sources of sustainable, essential food. We should cut back on fishing allotments to destructive trawlers, and give our local, shore-based, hook-and-line fishermen access to healthy fisheries without prohibitive regulations.

Railroad

Railroad restoration north of Willits may or may not be a good idea; I don't oppose it, and would support it with federal funding if it makes sense.
Nationwide, I favor a federally-subsidized effort to restore and modernize our railroad transport system, both to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

Transportation

I favor a comprehensive national and regional plan, backed up with federal funding, to create a transportation system and infrastructure based on renewable energy sources.
I favor federal support for public transportation such as the Mendocino Transit Authority, for bike and hiking trails, and to keep our roads and bridges in good shape.
HR 7 I strongly oppose; it would be an environmental and energy policy disaster, opening offshore oil drilling and permitting other environmentally damaging hydrocarbon resource extraction. As I have for decades, I will do all I can to prevent offshore oil drilling in Northcoast ocean waters.

Redevelopment Funding (Contaminated Sites)

A high priority is a congressional investigation into the contaminated sites in the Northcoast and nation, to develop federally-driven programs to clean them up. The Superfund does not have any funds; we should consider resuming the tax on polluting industries which used to feed this trust fund. I know of several sites in Mendocino County needing federal aid for cleanup, including the chromium pollution from Remco in Willits. Again, this effort depends on a major shift in federal funding and priorities away from military spending and financial bailouts, and fundamental tax reform.

Community Development

California's Northcoast is home to many groups, individuals, and tribal communities, all working to improve our quality of life. I am part of the food sovereignty movement, the Ocean Protection Coalition, Veterans for Peace, the Mendocino Environmental Center, and many other local groups.
I defend our local rights and freedoms to be in harmony with each other and the environment. I work to change unfair USDA regulations which take away our rights to produce and sell food locally on small farms and dairies. We need to change National Marine Fisheries Service policies which are eliminating small, shore-based, harmonious fishermen.

--John Lewallen http://www.johnlewallenforcongress.org