# lo/aJ13

RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE TO TIIE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

IN SUPPORT OF REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION

UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT

WHEREAS, the decade from 2000 to 2010 was the warmest on record', 2005 and 2010 tied for the hottest years on record Z ; and 2012 was the hottest year on record for the contiguous U.S. 3 ; and the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is approximately 397 parts per million 4(ppm); and
WHEREAS, one of the world's leading climate scientists, Dr. James Hansen, stated in 2008: "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm" 5 ; and
WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that current and future greenhouse gas concentrations endanger public health 6, and according to the Global Humanitarian Forum climate change is already responsible every year for some 300,000 deaths, 325 million people seriously affected, and economic losses worldwide of U.S. $125 billion 7 ; and

WHEREAS, extreme weather events, most notably heat waves and precipitation extremes, are striking with increased frequency 8 , with deadly consequences for people and wildlife; in the United States in 2011 alone, a record 14 weather and climate disasters occurred, including drouPts, heat waves, and floods, that cost at least $1 billion each in damages and loss of human lives ; and
WHEREAS, climate change creates conditions that lead to more destructive storms like 2012's Superstorm Sandy 10 , by loading storms with more energy and more rainfall ", raising sea levels and causing storm surge to ride on a higher sea surface causing more coastline floods 1z, and warming the Arctic and melting sea ice, which causes changes in the jet stream that are bringing more extreme weather to the U.S. 13 ; and
WHEREAS, climate change is affecting food security by reducing the growth and yields of important crops 14 ; droughts, floods and changes in snowpack are altering water supplies 15 ; as of October 2, 2012, 64.6 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing moderate-to-exceptional drought 16 ; and in 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated more than half (50.3 percent) of all U.S. counties disaster areas, mainly due to drought 1 '; and
WHEREAS, scientists have concluded that by 2100 as many as one in ten species may be on the verge of extinction due to climate change 18 ; and
WHEREAS, the world's land-based ice is rapidly melting, threatening water supplies in many regions and raising sea levels 19 , and Arctic summer sea ice extent has decreased to about half what it was several decades ago 20 , and reached a record low in 2012 21 , with an accompanying drastic reduction in sea-ice thickness and volume 22 , which is severelyjeopardizing ice-dependent animals23 ; andWHEREAS, global sea level is rising 60 percent faster than projected by the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change 24 ; the U.S. East Coast is a hotspot for sea level rise with rates three to four times faster than the global average 25 ; sea level rise is accelerating in pace 2G ; and sea level could rise by one to two meters in chis century, threatening millions of Americans with severe flooding27 ; and
WHEREAS, for four decades, the Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe through a proven, comprehensive, successful system of pollution control that saves lives and creates economic benefits exceeding its costs by many times 28 ; and
WHEREAS, with the Clean Air Act, air quality in this country has improved significantly since 1970, despite major growth both in our economy and industrial production; and
WHEREAS, between 1970 and 1990, the six main pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act — particulate matter and ground-level ozone (both of which contribute to smog and asthma), carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur and nitrogen oxides (the pollutants that cause acid rain) — were reduced by between 47 percent and 93 percent, and airborne lead was virtually eliminated; and WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act has produced economic benefits valued at $2 trillion or 30 times the cost of regulation; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts vs. EPA (2007) that greenhouse gases are "air pollutants" as defined by the Clean Air Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate them; and
WHEREAS, the City of Charlottesville prides itself on being a leader in the fight against climate change and for clean air, became a signatory to the US Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement in 2006, published its first community greenhouse gases inventory in 2008 with a recent update published in 2012, participated in a Local Climate Action Planning Process, has been a major partner since the inception of our Local Energy Alliance Program, and continues to pursue and implement a broad range of initiatives aimed at reducing emissions;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that climate change is not an abstract problem for the future or one that will only affect far-distant places, but rather climate change is happening now, we are causing it, and the longer we wait to act, the more we lose and the more difficult the problem will be to solve; and we, the Charlottesville City Council, on behalf of the residents of Charlottesville, do hereby urge the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to fully employ and enforce the Clean Air Act to do our part to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama.