Category Archives: Climate & Energy

Activists protest plans for gas pumps at new Rincon Valley 7-Eleven

Will Schmitt, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission will need to approve the company’s plans before any work on the project can occur and has not put 7-Eleven’s proposal on an agenda, said city planner Adam Ross.

7-Eleven’s plan to demolish one of its east Santa Rosa stores and several surrounding buildings to build a sleek new convenience store and add gas pumps has sparked opposition from activists who oppose new fossil fuel outlets in Sonoma County.

Texas-based 7-Eleven aims to replace the existing shop at Highway 12 and Middle Rincon Road with a new 24-hour convenience store and at least six gas pumps, according to an application filed with Santa Rosa planning officials.

Designs call for demolishing the store, a martial arts studio and at least one adjacent home, forcing longtime tenants to find another place to live.

To local climate activist Woody Hastings it doesn’t make sense to displace a family to make way for fuel pumps, noting that the Santa Rosa City Council weeks ago formally declared a climate crisis.

“If we’re going to extricate ourselves from the fossil world, we’ve got to start now,” said Hastings, who was leading about two dozen protesters outside the 7-Eleven on Monday. They held signs and chanted their opposition to the proposal.

7-Eleven in 2017 bought a chunk of land surrounding its store including an adjacent house occupied by a family. Company officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the redevelopment plans. 7-Eleven has more than 70,000 stores worldwide and 11 in the Santa Rosa area.

The company plans to hold another neighborhood meeting to “address concerns,” said Kim Barnett, director of national programs for Tait & Associates, a Rancho Cordova-based firm working with 7-Eleven on the development of the new store and gas station, in an email. She did not provide a date for the meeting.

Barnett described the Rincon Valley project as “a state of the art 7-Eleven” with “fresh foods,” featuring charging stations for electric vehicles and solar power. Though plans call for a car wash, Barnett said “there will be not be a car wash.”

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10693433-181/plans-for-new-east-santa

Favorable ruling for No Gas Here

The Petaluma Safeway gas station proposal is still in the courts. On Oct. 21 there was a final ruling in Sonoma County Superior Court that:
• Safeway must wait on all demolition and construction until the matter is fully settled by the court.
• Save Petaluma has a case and can move forward to hopefully get an Environmental Impact Report.

This is a favorable ruling and good news. The full ruling is available here.

After this ruling, Safeway filed a writ of petition, claiming the judge’s decision was wrong. Long story short, the judge gave Save Petaluma another month and set a date for Jan. 23 to go over the administrative items and set to a date for another hearing. Safeway continues to try and get the case thrown out.

For the latest check: https://www.nogashere.org/

Coalition persists against new gas station proposals in Sonoma County

Woody Hastings and Jenny Blaker, Sonoma Group

There are now at least three active new gas station proposals in Sonoma County. The Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations is asking Sierra Club Sonoma Group members to help flag newly emerging proposals as the mission is to oppose any new gas stations in the face of the climate crisis. Here is the rundown:

PETALUMA: Corner of Maria Drive & South McDowell Boulevard
The Petaluma Safeway gas station proposal is still in the courts. On Oct. 21 there was a final ruling in Sonoma County Superior Court that:
• Safeway must wait on all demolition and construction until the matter is fully settled by the court.
• Save Petaluma has a case and can move forward to hopefully get an Environmental Impact Report.

This is a favorable ruling and good news. The full ruling is available here.

After this ruling, Safeway filed a writ of petition, claiming the judge’s decision was wrong. Long story short, the judge gave Save Petaluma another month and set a date for Jan. 23 to go over the administrative items and set to a date for another hearing. Safeway continues to try and get the case thrown out.

For the latest check: https://www.nogashere.org/

UNINCORPORATED SONOMA COUNTY: 5300 Sebastopol Road (Highway 12 & Llano Road)
This proposal for a 12-pump gas station, car wash, mini mart, RV storage yard, with three large, above-ground fuel storage tanks is still slated to be on the agenda at a future Board of Zoning Adjustments meeting. Regularly scheduled meetings are on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 1 p.m. every month. Special meetings may also be calendared, but we have been assured of receiving 30 days’ prior notice regardless of the date, as there will be a CEQA hearing (which requires 30 days’ notice) concurrent with the BZA meeting.

The main thing needed right now are letters to the Press Democrat and other local papers. For the PD, email letters of no more than 200 words to letters@pressdemocrat.com Include your full name and home city for publication.

For other local papers—Bohemian, Gazette, Sonoma West Times & News, etc.—please visit their websites for instructions. Important note: we are purposely not providing a template letter. We have reason to believe that planning commissioners and others are discounting letters that appear to be from the same template. All you need to do is write a brief letter in your own words that says you are opposed to the gas station.

SANTA ROSA: Elm Tree Station874 N. Wright Rd.
The Coalition only recently learned of this proposal, thanks to Terri Moon. By the time this edition of the Needles hits the street, a public hearing on the proposal will have taken place on Dec. 12. The notice for that meeting describes the project as a “minor subdivision to create a park site and retail parcel for gasoline, electric charging station, and a neighborhood market.” The application was filed by Dhillon Mangal (File # – CC18-004).

Once again, we have a proposal for a new gas station in the Laguna, adjacent to the Joe Rodota Trail, in this case with a whopping 14 operational gas stations within five miles. This is due to the fact that the site is near the downtown core of Santa Rosa. Also of note in this case, the facility would be constructed on undisturbed land, increasing the urban footprint of the city for a purpose that runs counter to Santa Rosa’s climate action commitments.

The contact person at the city of Santa Rosa is Adam Ross, city planner, 707-543-4705 or aross@srcity.org. Additional information can also be obtained at the Planning & Economic Development Department at Santa Rosa City Hall, 100 Santa Rosa Ave., Room 3 during the following times:
• Mon, Tues, Thur: 8-4:30pm
• Weds: 10:30-4:30pm• Fri: 8-12pm
The staff report and attachments related to this project are available as of Dec. 12 at srcity.org.

Please send comments and questions to woodyhastings [at] gmail.com. The coalition will next meet on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at the Sebastopol Grange from 6 to 8 p.m.

Hope for our climate begins with you and me

Randal MacDonald, Redwood Chapter Chapter Climate & Energy Committee Chair

Here in the Sierra Club’s Redwood Chapter, we are developing the Climate Protectors program, and we invite you to get involved. Please join the climate conversation by signing up for our discussion group at: http://sierraclub.org/redwood/climate-committee-contact-form.

It can be rather daunting to realize the historic significance of the times we are living in. You and I were born into an era in which the future of humankind — indeed the future of life on Earth itself — is being put at greater and greater risk by humanity’s increasingly harmful impacts upon our precious planet.

As the United Nations reported in November, civilization is failing to meet the goals for reducing our fossil fuel pollution that we set in the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. The consequences of our global warming can already be seen all around us, and things will only get worse, especially if we fail to act now by dramatically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

The climate clock is ticking.
Continue reading Hope for our climate begins with you and me →

Support equitable climate emergency action in Sonoma County!

Friends of the Climate Action Plan have started a petition on Change.org addressed to Sonoma County City Councils and Board of Supervisors

Sign the petition!

Record-setting heat waves, droughts, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, vanishing glaciers, thawing permafrost, disintegrating ice sheets, rising sea levels, dying coral reefs, extinction of species – the disasters we are now witnessing are but a preview of more devastating impacts to come. The governments of all nations on Earth acknowledge the consensus view of the world’s scientific community: we are facing a climate crisis that requires, “…rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”

We simply cannot delay. We must immediately respond to the challenge of restoring a safe climate system with an understanding that we all rise or fall together! But let’s not just look at this as a battle to be waged! Let’s imagine the kind of world we want to create! Let’s start planning a Just Transition to a vibrant, resilient, people-centered, climate-adapted world — with clean air, jobs, and justice for all!

An Equitable Climate Emergency Resolution is an action passed by a City Council or Board of Supervisors that commits the city/County to:

  • Acknowledge the existence of a climate emergency.
  • Elevate climate issues to the highest priority in all city/County goal-setting.
  • Evaluate all policies, projects, purchases, and priorities through the lens of climate impact.
  • Set a goal of zero net emissions within ten years and annually track and publicly report progress toward that goal.
  • Update its General Plan and other guiding documents in accordance with the goals of mitigation, drawdown, adaptation, and social justice.
  • Create a new entity in their jurisdiction to oversee ongoing climate-related efforts.
  • Educate and engage all city/County employees and all community members on the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for “…rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”
  • Encourage the active participation of the entire community, including our marginalized and disenfranchised members who will be the most heavily impacted by climate change, in a Just Transition toward a resilient future.

We ask all the cities in Sonoma County — and the County of Sonoma — to join the City of Petaluma and over 960 jurisdictions worldwide [as of 8-21-19] and over 7,000 colleges and universities in passing an Equitable Climate Emergency Resolution and signaling their sincere commitment to an equitable, livable future for all.

This petition will be presented to city councils around Sonoma County and to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in support of all Equitable Climate Emergency Resolutions.

 

Gas station proposals: One down, two to go

Woody Hastings & Jenny Blaker,  Sonoma Group members

In early May the Redwood Chapter leadership agreed unanimously to oppose the mega-gas station proposal at Gravenstein Highway (116) and Stony Point Road based on a long list of environmental and other concerns. On June 25, many Club members and other Sonoma County residents attended a public meeting on the project in Cotati and forcefully voiced their opposition. On July 8, the developers withdrew their application.

While we celebrate that victory, we remain concerned about the fate of the David v. Goliath struggle between local residents and Safeway over the recently permitted gas station in Petaluma, which is now in the courts.

Yet another gas station proposal, at Llano Road and Highway 12, is wending its way through the County’s permitting process. This one is in unincorporated Sonoma County, just east of Sebastopol, in the middle of the Laguna de Santa Rosa with gasoline fueling, carwash, and minimart, all on a well. The applicant has made no case that this project is necessary; because it is not necessary. There are 7 stations within a 5-mile radius of the project address, 5300 Sebastopol Road.

The new location is a rural area with historically agricultural and rural residential uses and the project is in conflict with countywide commitment to city-centered growth. There are significant concerns about traffic congestion and adjacency to the Joe Rodota trail. The project location is in a priority groundwater basin and underground fuel storage tanks are always at risk of leaking, and the site is within California tiger salamander critical habitat.

Continue reading Gas station proposals: One down, two to go →

Great news! Applicant retracts proposal for new gas station

The gas station proposal at 116 and Stony Point Road has been withdrawn!

On to the next:

5300 Sebastopol Road (Highway 12 & Llano Road)
This proposal for a 12-pump gas station, car wash, mini mart, RV storage yard, with three large, above-ground fuel storage tanks is still slated to be on the agenda at a future Board of Zoning Adjustments meeting. Regularly scheduled meetings are on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 1 p.m. every month. Special meetings may also be calendared, but we have been assured of receiving 30 days’ prior notice regardless of the date, as there will be a CEQA hearing (which requires 30 days’ notice) concurrent with the BZA meeting.

Santa Rosa City Council moves toward innovative “electric-ready” building ordinance

Mike Turgeon, Center for Climate Protection

In a marathon study session on Tuesday, October 23rd, the Santa Rosa City Council, at the urging of the Friends of the Climate Action Plan (FoCAP), received a long-overdue update on the progress of the 2012 Municipal and Community Climate Action Plans. The Climate Action Plan implementation team (CAP-IT) has not met since the Santa Rosa fires and accomplishing its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now is crucial.

After the session, the Council moved to put a discussion for an “electric-ready” building ordinance on a future agenda. Electric ready means having 220/240 volt outlets and the appropriate size wiring to accommodate electric appliances such as heat pump water heaters, heat pumps for heating/cooling, induction stoves and so on.

The infrastructure for natural gas would still be in place, but electric ready homes will be ‘future-proof,’ thus avoiding costly electrical upgrades when California begins to require a fuel switch from natural gas to “electrifying everything.” Homeowners can simply swap out gas appliances for the new, efficient electric appliances. The additional costs to make a home electric ready is roughly 0.1 percent of a home’s cost for labor and materials if done as part of the original build. It would be much more expensive for a homeowner to have to retrofit these electrical features.

The minimal cost of electric-ready will not affect the price of a new home since new home prices are based on what the market will bear, not how much wires, cables and assorted materials cost.

A Santa Rosa electric-ready ordinance would be a first in the state of California and perhaps the rest of the country. This ordinance would be a good first step toward getting away from natural gas entirely.

Read more at https://climateprotection.org/santa-rosa-city-council-moves-toward-innovative-electric-ready-building-ordinance/

Vallejo cement plant dies a slow, anguished death

Shoshana Hebshi, Redwood Chapter Communications Coordinator

After weeks of speculation, the contentious Orcem cement plant and deep-water terminal project slated for South Vallejo has been withdrawn as of Friday, May 24.

“We are celebrating all over Vallejo,” said Solano Group Chair Joe Feller, who has been an indefatigable force in rallying opposition to the project during the last two years.

Feller received a notice from the City of Vallejo that the project proposed by Vallejo Marine Terminal, LLC, had been withdrawn after an appeal of the city planning commission’s denial of the plan, known as the VMT-Orcem Project.

The City Council was set to hear the appeal at a May 30 meeting, and that meeting has been canceled.

VMT has been working since September 2013 on turning the former General Mills factory, also known as the Sperry Mill, in a working-class neighborhood along the Napa River into a “green” cement factory and deep-water terminal to ship materials in and out. Once the community got wind of the idea, understanding that the cement plant would contribute much air and noise pollution, introduce a huge amount of large truck traffic and degrade the neighborhood, there was a wave of opposition coming to city meetings to decry the project.

Solano Group got involved in 2017 and linked up with Fresh Air Vallejo in fighting the project. Feller helped educate the community and build a grassroots movement that put tremendous pressure on city officials and staff to reject VMT-Orcem.

The appeal came after the planning commission denied a major use permit in February 2017 citing concerns over environmental and quality-of-life impacts to residents. VMT was supposed to conduct a new Environmental Impact Report, after the first appeared to be highly flawed. Since then, VMT has failed to come back to the city with the updated EIR and other required documents and payments to keep the project going.

While the company was stalling, activists and organizers began to speculate that the project was dying.

“We finally got our answer and some very happy closure,” Feller said. “This project was wrong for the neighborhood, wrong for Vallejo and wrong for the planet. We need to think about how the city can transition into a carbon-neutral scenario as we move forward. More pollution, more dirty industry is not the answer.”