Climate Mayors Letter to President Barack Obama

April 15, 2016

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

As mayors committed to leading the fight against climate change, we believe the recent Aliso Canyon gas leak has pointed out the challenges facing communities where similar oil and gas infrastructure is found. Each of our cities shares concerns about these facilities, including health and safety, as well as the methane released from natural gas and oil production, consumption, storage, and transport. We have come together through the Mayors’ National Climate Action Agenda (MNCAA) to support action on climate change. Given that methane is a potent, short lived climate pollutant–84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short-term—we write to you today.

First, thank you for your March 10 commitment to ensuring that the U.S. EPA moves forward expeditiously on rules to limit methane emissions from new sources, per your commitment last summer, and critically, from existing sources of oil and gas production infrastructure. This action is vitally important as we need rules that address methane leaks throughout the entire life-cycle of oil and gas, including both production and consumption. Such rules would not only have a climate benefit, but they would reduce the costly waste of energy resources. These rules would also serve to cut the toxic soup of air contaminants that are released alongside methane not just from oil and gas production, but from their transportation and storage as well. This is a risk that threatens every city. However, the climate benefits from these rules can be undermined by lack of oversight elsewhere in the value chain, and lagging advancement of renewable energy and alternative forms of storage of energy. Therefore, we are asking for your leadership in rapidly addressing these issues in two additional ways:

1. Direct the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to add regulation of oil and gas storage facilities along with interstate pipelines. 
To date, storage facilities and interstate transportation infrastructure have been overlooked. The risk of such a gap in oversight has been highlighted most recently by the disaster at Aliso Canyon in Los Angeles where a gaswell leaked more methane than ever experienced in the United States and led to the emergency relocation of over 5,000 residents in the neighboring communities. Most leaks aren’t as big as Aliso Canyon, but they add up to a much larger problem in aggregate.

2. Research energy storage technologies to pair with renewables.
We ask that you enlist the expertise of the Department of Energy to study alternatives for existing natural gas storage facilities. Namely, we propose a redoubled emphasis on energy storage technologies, including battery storage, pumped hydro storage, and compressed air storage among other methods, which can make intermittent renewable energy production technologies more viable throughout the day. This technology would allow for the continued use of existing infrastructure, but serve as a much safer and cleaner strategy for addressing peak energy demand in comparison to natural gas-fired generation. Financing should also be made available to cities to help them move buildings and homes toward clean technologies such as battery storage paired with grid-tied solar installations.

Thankfully, in the wake of the leak at Aliso Canyon, U.S. Secretary of Energy Moniz announced on April 1 the Interagency Task Force on Natural Gas Storage Safety. We ask for your support in ensuring the task force addresses both these matters, and other related issues they identify. Please know we stand ready to help support and contribute to the work of the task force if and as possible. We understand that our economy will continue to rely on fossil fuels for the near future. However, the oil and gas industry must not imperil our air quality, our public health, and our climate through leaks and venting. The public relies on all of us to make decisions that protect their health and welfare.

Sincerely,

Mayor Eric Garcetti, City of Los Angeles / Mayor Steve Skadron, City of Aspen / Mayor Steve Adler, City of Austin / Mayor Tom Bates, City of Berkeley / Mayor Suzanne Jones, City of Boulder / Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago / Mayor Michael Hancock, City of Denver / Mayor Muriel Bowser, District of Columbia / Mayor Sly James, City of Kansas City / Mayor Bill de Blasio, City of New York / Mayor Libby Shaaf, City of Oakland / Mayor Charlie Hales, City of Portland

cc: Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / Anthony Foxx, Secretary of U.S. Department of Transportation / Ernest Moniz, Secretary of U.S. Department of Energy / Marie Therese Dominguez, Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation

Climate Mayors Letter to President Obama to Address Urgent Climate Issues in Paris During COP21 and Further GHG Reductions at Home

In June 2015, almost 30 mayors wrote to President Barack Obama as a call to action on international climate issues in Paris during COP21 and a request for further GHG reductions at home. The force behind the letter was a co-creation of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Here is our letter and our list of signatories:

June 18, 2015

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President: As Mayors of 27 cities representing almost 20 million people, we write to thank you for your leadership on climate mitigation and resilience. As you said in your State of the Union speech, “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.”We are writing to call on you to act in the best interests of the American people and fight for the strongest possible climate agreement at the upcoming 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris, and for federal action to establish binding national greenhouse gas emissions reductions here at home. The United States can and should be the leader in the transition to a clean energy economy. To support your leadership and assist you and the U.S. delegation in reaching the strongest possible agreement, we are launching a campaign today to engage with our constituents, elected officials and other stakeholders to help achieve these strong outcomes at the national and international levels, while building on municipal leadership on climate change. As Mayors, we understand that we are stronger working together.

That is why we have come together and created the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda (MNCAA) to help lead the way to a solution to global climate change. A changing and variable climate has tremendous implications for the livability, competitiveness and resilience of communities across the country. The extreme weather events we have all increasingly experienced in recent years and the future projections we face make it clear that we all share a common risk and commitment to safeguarding our communities. The MNCAA is a mayor-to-mayor initiative to raise the collective voice of leading mayors, demonstrate the essential role of cities in working towards climate solutions, and build political will for U.S. leadership. This initiative, established by the Mayors of Houston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, includes the undersigned, and will continue to grow. The negotiations in Paris will be as challenging as they are critical to our cities’ environmental health and economic prosperity. Cities across the country are already taking the lead. The cities we represent are working to take responsible steps to curb emissions and plan for the changing climate. Many of our cities have reached Kyoto commitments far ahead of states and the national government, and cities across the country are committing to binding targets, creating standardized inventories and climate action plans and laying the ground work for a municipal offset protocol. But we cannot act alone.

We need the federal government to provide a path forward to making meaningful reductions in carbon pollution while preparing for the impacts of climate change. Despite the dangerous/irresponsible stalemate in Congress, climate change is not a policy debate in communities all across the United States. The effects of a changing climate are presenting a clear and present threat. Extreme weather is presenting itself more regularly, though it takes many forms—from droughts in the west, wildfires in the intermountain states, to flooding and snow storms in the east and coastal erosion in the Gulf states. Momentum is building for international coordination. COP21 represents a prime opportunity for American leadership. We recognize that local governments have a major role to play in reducing greenhouse gas levels. We are encouraged that there is interest on the part of COP 21 for having language in the final agreement that specifically pertains to cities.

The time for strong U.S. action is now. We look forward to standing with you here at home and in Paris to bring leadership and focus to the reality of climate change and to urge national dialogue and action.

Sincerely,

ANN ARBOR MAYOR CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR / ASPEN MAYOR STEVE SKADRON / AUSTIN MAYOR STEVE ADLER / ATLANTA MAYOR KASIM REED / BERKELEY MAYOR TOM BATES / BOULDER MAYOR MATT APPELBAUM / CHARLOTTE MAYOR DAN CLODFELTER / COLUMBUS MAYOR MICHAEL COLEMAN / DENVER MAYOR MICHAEL HANCOCK / FORT COLLINS MAYOR WADE TROXELL / HOUSTON MAYOR ANNISE PARKER / KANSAS CITY MAYOR SLY JAMES / LOS ANGELES MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI / MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR BETSY HODGES / OAKLAND MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF / ORLANDO MAYOR BUDDY DYER / PARK CITY MAYOR JACK THOMAS / PHILADELPHIA MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER / PHOENIX MAYOR GREG STANTON / PORTLAND MAYOR CHARLIE HALES / SALT LAKE CITY MAYOR RALPH BECKER / SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR ED LEE / SAN JOSE MAYOR SAM LICCARDO / SANTA MONICA MAYOR KEVIN MCKEOWN / SEATTLE MAYOR ED MURRAY / SOMERVILLE MAYOR JOE CURTATONE / TACOMA MAYOR MARILYN STRICKLAND