Purpose

We are the Yolo County Chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby, working together with other CCL chapters and climate advocates throughout the U.S. and world to pass economically practical legislation for solving the problem of greenhouse gas induced global warming.  

Big Wires Act Evaluated by MIT

The Big Wires Act, introduced by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA-50), is key to building out the electrical grid and providing interconnections between regions.  CCL is strongly supporting the act.  MIT has evaluated the impact of the legislation here.  Their conclusions included:

Letter to Davis Enterprise in support of Big Wires Act

I enjoyed John Mott-Smith’s Jan. 24 Per Capita column, “World Takes a Ride on Tiny Bikes.” John notes the huge increase worldwide in e-scooters and bikes, three-wheeled e-taxis, and the like.

He mentions “range anxiety” and the long time it takes to recharge vehicle batteries as potentially limiting e-vehicle adoption. To address these problems in the U.S. requires expanding the electrical grid, so that recharging is available and cheap both where we live and on the road. Imagine in a few years that we all have e-vehicles, and there is a multi-day power outage in our state.

Now imagine millions of vehicles not going anywhere, despite plenty of electricity in other regions of the country. In 2023, the Big Wires Act was introduced in both chambers of Congress. It would set standards for increased interregional transfer of electricity and would make grid expansion easier.

We are grateful to Rep. Mike Thompson for expressing support for Big Wires and other proposed climate legislation. With the situation in Congress now — "too many side shows” is a polite way to put it — we must continue to insist that climate action be made a priority. Thompson is supportive of this, but it helps him to more effectively advocate with his colleagues if he continues to hear from constituents on this issue.

Stuart Pettygrove
Davis

[published in Davis Enterprise on January 29, 2024]

In Joint Meeting with CCL Yolo and CCL Santa Rosa, Congressman Mike Thompson Agrees to Cosponsor Key Climate Legislation

CCL Santa Rosa and CCL Yolo held a video conference meeting with our Congressman Mike Thompson on 11/7.  The Congressman gave us updates on the situation for climate legislation and excellent feedback on actions we could do to help.   He also agreed to cosponsor three bills that CCL is seeking to advance in Congress - The Big Wires Act, the Increased TSP Act, and the RISEE Act. 

The Big Wires Act would increase electrical interconnection between regions of the country, hastening deployment of renewable energy generation, making it more widely available in the power mix, and improving overall electrical grid reliability.

The Increased TSP Act would increase the number of technical service providers available to farmers and ranchers for carbon sequestration projects implementation and credits.

The RISEE Act would devote a portion of offshore wind energy leases to improving coastal infrastructure resilience.

A huge thanks to Congressman Thompson for stepping forward on these key bills.

Use the new click-to-call action tool to contact members of Congress such as our own Rep. Mike Thompson.  See this 2 minute video for usage instructions.

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act Reintroduced

At an event in Santa Barbara, Calif. on Monday, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24) announced his plans to reintroduce our core legislation. The Congressman delivered remarks alongside CCL staffer Olivia Melonas and CCL Santa Barbara volunteer Carol Schwyzer, which you can watch on YouTube. And as of today (9/27), he has officially reintroduced the bill in the House.

Yolo county climate action

Check out the latest on Yolo County's Climate Action Plan and take their survey.

James Hansen Sounds the Alarm Bells

(Aug. 2023) James Hansen, sometimes known as the father of climate change analysis, expounds on the current science and observations (link):

"Global temperature in June and July (Fig. 1) shot far above the prior records for those months for the 140 years of good instrumental data. Early indications are that warming exceeds expectation based on only the long-term trend due to increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) plus the emerging El Nino. Three additional mechanisms will have a near-term effect, with a result that the 12-month mean global temperature likely will pierce the 1.5°C warming level before this time next year. Uncertainties in present analyses draw attention to the inadequacy of and the precarious state of crucial global observations."

Climate restoration presentation

(April 2023) We had a total of 76 people (including 10 via Zoom) attend the Climate Restoration Presentation in Davis.   There was plenty of good information, good Q&A, and networking.    Thanks to all who attended and to Peter Fiekowsky for his presentation.  For a transcript of the event, click here.  

For more information on the potential and the research needs for ocean biotic climate restoration, see this link at the National Academy of Sciences.  Here is their summary:

"Among the biotic approaches, research on ocean iron fertilization and seaweed cultivation offer the greatest opportunities for evaluating the viability of possible biotic ocean CDR approaches; research on the potential CDR and sequestration permanence for ecosystem recovery would also be beneficial in the context of ongoing marine conservation efforts. "  


Yolo CCL attends Congressman Thompson's Woodland office opening 

Yolo CCL members met with Woodland office staff, Congressman Thompson, and many local friends at the Woodland office opening.

Woodland City Council Passes Climate Safe California Endorsement

Our thanks to the Woodland City Council for passing a resolution to endorse the Climate Safe California Platform, which was supported by Yolo CCL and other local groups.  

SUPPORT THE REELECTION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COMMITTED TO CLIMATE ACTION

See the new Bipartisan Climate Action Fund here:

Bipartisan Climate Action 


What we do

Yolo CCL has been spreading the good news about a nonpartisan approach to global warming that can do the heavy lifting, be effective internationally, and actually improve the economy.  We lobby members of Congress and provide public outreach.  We table at numerous community events, present to local groups, and hold meetings with Congressman Thompson and other members of Congress and their aides on advancing climate legislation.  We work with other climate advocacy groups on moving solutions forward at all levels.

Join us and come work together.