FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2018
Gov. Brown Reduces Climate Funding for Critical Programs
Environmental Justice and Equity Groups Express Concerns
SACRAMENTO, CA – Today the California Climate Equity Coalition, which has led efforts to ensure that funds from California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund are invested in communities impacted by poverty and pollution, expressed concerns about some of the proposed GGRF expenditures released along with Gov. Brown’s state of the state address. The following statement can be attributed to the California Climate Equity Coalition’s* steering committee.
“California has pioneered using money raised by polluters to bring the economic and health benefits of the clean energy economy to disadvantaged communities via the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The budget announced by the Governor on Friday, while it includes laudable commitments to reducing pollution from transportation and improving community air protection, significantly reduces and in some cases, zeroes out funding for a number of crucial programs, including Low-Income Weatherization, Urban and Community Forestry and Urban Greening, and cuts others, such as Transformative Climate Communities.
These programs have received adequate funding in previous years, so these reductions come as a surprise. The impacted programs have done real good for communities by helping low-income families save energy and money and making concrete-lined urban neighborhoods cleaner and greener. While some parts of the proposed budget could help vulnerable communities, these cuts could do real harm to them.
This is just the beginning of this process. We look forward to working with legislative leaders to ensure adequate funding for investments in communities most burdened by pollution and poverty.”
*The California Climate Equity Coalition is comprised of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, the Coalition for Clean Air, the Greenlining Institute, Public Advocates, and SCOPE.
Contact:
Bruce Mirken, Greenlining Institute, 415-846-7758 (cell)
Laura Muraida, SCOPE, 323-789-7920, lmuraida@scopela.org
Isabel Alegria, Public Advocates, 415 431 7434, ialegria@publicadvocates.org
Parin Shah, APEN, 415-286-7850, parin@apen4ej.org
Bill Magavern, Coalition for Clean Air, 916-527-8051, bill@ccair.org
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