City Council Urges Obama to Cut Carbon Pollution

The following press release was distributed by the City of West Hollywood

As the Obama Administration considers a key rule aimed at cutting greenhouse gas pollution from new power plants, the West Hollywood City Council has passed a resolution urging President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move swiftly to make full use of the Clean Air Act to reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

The resolution, passed at Monday night’s City Council meeting, makes West Hollywood the latest U.S. city to join the Center for Biological Diversity’s national Clean Air Cities campaign, which has drawn support from cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Miami, Fla.

“Climate change and extreme weather is a real concern for cities like ours,” said Mayor Pro Tempore Abbe Land, who co-sponsored the resolution. “The only way to fight the greenhouse pollution causing this problem is by working together.  West Hollywood is proud to join cities from across America in urging President Obama to wield the Clean Air Act against catastrophic climate change,” continued Mayor Pro Tempore Land.

“Every level of government has a responsibility to take steps to protect climate change,” said Councilmember John Heilman.  “West Hollywood has always been at the forefront of environmental issues.  We will continue to work with other cities to fight greenhouse pollution,” continued Councilmember Heilman.

The EPA must finalize a carbon pollution rule for new power plants by April 13, 2013 but some Washington insiders say the agency is likely to miss that deadline — and may be considering weakening the rule because of pressure from big polluters.

Meanwhile, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose by a near-record amount last year, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration recently announced. Recent research has also raised fresh concerns about the dangers of climate change. Among the most disturbing findings is that climate change is already delivering periods of extreme heat that last longer than any living American has experienced and will warm our country by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, according to the recently released draft National Climate Assessment.

A 2012 UCLA study projected that climate change will triple the number of days above 95 degrees in downtown Los Angeles. The number of high-temperature days will quadruple in portions of the San Fernando Valley and rise five-fold in an area of the High Desert in L.A. County. The projections are for 2041 to 2060.

The Center’s Clean Air Cities campaign is working around the country to encourage cities to pass resolutions supporting the Clean Air Act and using the Act to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million, the level scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.