Energy & Environment

The environment is the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Our world's beauty and complexity - the elegance of its inter-connectedness - is a foundation of our inspiration, creativity and spirituality. California Democrats have led the way towards bi-partisan solutions to problems arising from our industrial society - resource extraction, waste disposal, and pollution - and their disparate impact on the poor, on ethnic minorities and on indigenous people.

We will work to reverse the real and imminent threat of Global Warming and to protect our planet. 

To safeguard our cherished environment, California Democrats will:

• Create green collar jobs by incentivizing the development, production and purchase of environmentally friendly products, renewable energy, and recycled materials through public/private partnerships such as the state and national Apollo Alliance;
• By 2020: Return to the state’s 1990 greenhouse gas emissions levels; produce 40 percent of California's electricity from renewable and sustainable energy sources and reduce electricity and natural gas use by 20 percent; by 2030 produce 40 percent of the state's transportation fuels from non-petroleum sources; and support Low Carbon Fuel Standards;
• Reject any attempt for new offshore oil or gas development, preserve coastal access, protect the mandates of the California Coastal Act, and support the recovery and preservation of our ocean ecosystems;
• Oppose any attempt to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, or the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA);
• Preserve the health of the Delta, by bringing the Delta levee system to 200-year flood protection;
• Curtail and phase out pesticides which pose threats to our farm workers and consumers; 
• Encourage the use of fire resistant, termite proof, energy efficient building materials, in all new residential and light commercial construction;
• Conserve natural resources and public lands to combat suburban sprawl; reject any sale of public forestry and park lands; and safeguard California's forests through sustained yield best practices forestry and preservation of heritage trees;
• Support minimum price guarantees as a method of promoting domestic and entrepreneur renewable energy production so as to increase the percentage of renewables in California's power mix;
• Support the Attorney General’s suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to grant California’s waiver request under the Clean Air Act, and support Clean Vehicle Incentive Programs;
• Encourage the goal of “net zero emissions” new homes by 2020, and zero net energy new commercial construction by 2030; and
• Urge Congress to pass a rigorous greenhouse gas emissions cap for the nation that meets or exceeds sound scientific standards.