HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/1/2022 Item 7a, Fleck
Delgado, Adriana
From:Erich Fleck <erichfleck@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Public Comment 2/1/22
Attachments:Public Comment SLO City Council 2_1_22 Fleck_Erich.docx
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
To the honorable Mayor and SLO City Council members,
Please include my public comments attached below in your study session this evening.
Thank you,
Erich C. Fleck
1
Erich Fleck
1035 Islay St.
SLO, CA 93401
The Honorable San Luis Obispo City Council
990 Palm St.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Dear Mayor and Council members,
I am writing to you today to support the staff recommendation of removing the natural gas
compliance pathway for new buildings. This is the right thing for our community’s health,
affordability, and climate.
SLO City cannot reach its publicly stated goal of carbon neutrality by 2035 if fossil gas
infrastructure continues to be used. Allowing fossil gas infrastructure in new construction will
lock in the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for at best another 8-10 years before
maintenance or replacement will even become a consideration. Carbon neutrality is dependent
on reducing existing sources and, crucially, restricting new sources of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, not increasing its prevalence.
San Luis Obispo has always been considered an innovator in numerous industries and sectors,
including climate action; however, in California alone, we have already seen our sister cities of
Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, along with more than 50 others, commit to the phasing out of
natural gas in new buildings. With action like this from our peers, along with the revealing just
yesterday’s of the State of California’s zero-emission standards for space and water heaters
being introduced, we risk falling behind and diminishing our reputation as trend-setters.
The adverse health effects to our community, our children, and the elderly population from the
continued use of natural gas are now being represented like never before. Children living in
homes with natural gas stoves are exposed to 50-400 times higher nitrogen dioxide
concentrations than those in homes with electric stoves (Rocky Mountain Institute). A recent
Stanford University research published in January estimated that the amount of methane
leakage from residential gas ovens is equivalent to the harmful climate effects of 500,000 gas-
powered vehicles.
There is not much to appreciate about the continued use of natural gas in our buildings, old or
new, but if we have to start somewhere, we mustn't allow any new fossil gas infrastructure.
Thank you for your service to our community,
Sincerely,
Erich Fleck