Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez Thorpe signed a pledge Wednesday, February 7, 2024, in the lobby of Antioch City Hall to reject the investment of the city's public funds in fossil fuel infrastructure. Behind him are members of environmental groups such as Sunflower Alliance and Pacific Environment.
As the effects of global warming become more familiar to Antioquia residents, Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe has pledged to refuse to invest public funds in the city's fossil fuel infrastructure.
“Climate change is not something that could potentially happen to us,” Hernandez-Thorpe told reporters at City Hall on Wednesday morning. “It's literally happening right in front of our eyes.”
To that end, Hernandez-Thorpe on Wednesday said “no” to new construction, upgrades and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in Antioquia, becoming the first signatory to Pacific Environment's global pledge to fight the climate crisis. Became mayor.
Although it is largely ceremonial in that the mayor is just one vote on the five-member council, it is not just symbolic because the mayor sets the agenda, Hernandez-Thorpe said. he pointed out. He can submit proposals to the council that can bring about change in the city.
“Real things will happen as a result of this, and real policies will come out of this,” he said.
One example, he said, is an upcoming proposal to ban the construction of new gas stations in the city.
“Many other policies will be enacted, again guided by this mayor's proclamation,” Hernandez-Thorpe said. “So you have teeth.”
As part of this declaration, new refueling facilities for ships and aircraft, power plants including all oil and natural gas pipelines, new oil refineries, transportation terminals, natural gas processing plants, petrochemical plants, new buildings, gas connection facilities have also been denied.
“We understand and recognize something very important: global warming is absolutely real,” the mayor said. “Last year, the planet as a whole reached a historic milestone by recording the hottest year in Earth's history in 2023.”
Fern Wenathornwarangoon, from the Pacific Environment Agency, said the pledge was a “hugely important step” to “reject new construction, renewal and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in our cities”.
“With today's pledge, Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe will become the first city in the world to commit to no new investments in fossil fuels with our city's public funds,” she said. “He is committed to removing authority from existing land use documents for new, updated, and expanded fossil fuel infrastructure on city property.”
Shoshana Westfall of the environmental group Sunflower Alliance agreed, noting that the city has taken the first step by banning oil and gas drilling in 2022.
The city also recently chose not to renew a permit for a gas pipeline that runs through the city to the Chevron refinery in Richmond, she said.
“Antioch took the risk of being sued,” Westfall said. “…They're putting it at risk. This is a brave move by the city government.”
Meanwhile, Wenathornwarangoon from the Pacific Environment Agency said recent severe weather shows the need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
“Climate change is already impacting us here in California,” she said. “And anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have caused temperatures in California to rise at least 3 degrees Fahrenheit since pre-industrial times, with half of this increase occurring rapidly since the 1970s.”
Wenathornwarangoon said climate change is causing “storms, floods, heat waves, wildfires, droughts and power outages to become more frequent and severe.”
“The state has experienced its hottest decade in recorded history since 2005, and 14 of the most destructive wildfires in California history have occurred in the past 15 years. “Sea levels have risen more than 8 inches in the past 100 years,” she said.
Wenathornwarangoon said the local effects of climate change are also being seen in Antioch, pointing to the nearby San Joaquin/Sacramento River, which used to be a year-round source of fresh water but is now salt water. It was pointed out that it was contaminated with
Hernandez-Thorpe pointed out that global warming and melting ice sheets are causing sea levels to rise, which contributes to saltwater pollution in rivers. Also, Antioch has had water rights since before 1914 and could pump water from the river, but in recent years the water has become increasingly salty, so the city often draws water from the Contra Costa Water District. They had to resort to purchasing expensive raw water.
“A few years ago, Antioquia made the bold decision to build a $110 million brackish water desalination plant to help reduce the effects of global warming,” said Thorpe Hernandez.
The mayor said the $110 million desalination plant, which will provide up to 6 million gallons of desalinated water a day, is expected to be operational this spring.
But not all regions of the planet are experiencing climate change in the same way, Hernandez-Thorpe said.
“For Antioquia, atmospheric rivers pose a major threat to its already strained infrastructure,” he said. “Roads will continue to age and break down faster than ever before. If you don't believe me, just drive around and check out some of the newest potholes. ”
Hernandez-Thorpe also said there are areas in the city where stormwater drainage is difficult because river tides are too high to “push water out.”
“All of these things are harmless to the general public,” he said. “But it has a very real impact on the city's finances and on the wallets of each and every resident.”
The mayor added that the city still has much work to do when it comes to mitigating climate change and cannot do it all alone.
“Hopefully, other mayors in the Bay Area, California and around the world would, frankly, step up and do the exact same thing.”
