TO: Governor Gavin Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass, Members of the Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles County Supervisors, California Public Utility Commissioners, California Energy Commissioners, Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff and members of the California legislature.
The devastating January fires in the Los Angeles area lead us to urge you to "build back better." The loss of 29 lives and more than 16,000 structures prompts us to recommend that structures be built "only electric" to prevent similar tragedies. Doing so will reduce costs, increase health and safety, and protect Earth's climate.
We don't want to add barriers to the rebuilding process, but rather, urge you to create incentives for electrification.
Since the goal is to rebuild as quickly as possible, it will be much faster to rebuild these areas without gas systems. The cost savings of re-building these areas as "only electric" will also be significant. The South Coast Air District is moving forward with rules that will ban the sale of gas appliances within a few years, so we don't need to saddle all ratepayers with paying for reinstalling unneeded gas lines. As more and more people go "only electric," those remaining property owners with gas will pay a higher percent of the cost to maintain the gas system. Going "only electric" now during the re-building will save everyone money.
Building "only electric" will also contribute greatly to safety. It will end nightmare scenarios like the 2010 gas explosion in San Bruno that killed 8 people and destroyed 38 homes, and would have prevented the Aliso Canyon methane leak in 2015 that spewed out an estimated 109,000 metric tons of gas before it was sealed 111 days later.
We urge you to move forward by:
— Funding the LA Department of Water and Power and others to create pathways that incentivize "only electric" rebuilding, accompanied by educational campaigns aimed at homeowners, contractors and building inspectors about only "electric" options.
— Designating the fire areas as pilot programs under SB 1221, which says that if two-thirds of homeowners in an area decide they don't want gas, the utility's "obligation to serve" with gas is waived and "only electric" will be the default.
— Streamlining permitting for "only electric" rebuilds.
We urge you to take these steps to ensure that all Californians benefit from the health, safety and cost advantages that "only electric" building offers.
Sincerely,
Terry Nagel
Chair, Sustainable San Mateo County, terry@sustainablesanmateo.org
Debbie Mytels
Chair, Peninsula Interfaith Climate Action, debbie.mytels@gmail.com
and other signers whose names are attached
