{"id":18604,"date":"2012-01-23T17:45:26","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T01:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=18604"},"modified":"2018-02-01T23:46:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T23:46:12","slug":"state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Critics say long-term, San Diego’s plan will add greenhouse gas emissions, not reduce them<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Critics say that San Diego’s regional transportation plan focuses too much on freeways.” credit=”Craig Miller\/KQED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The spotlight is on San Diego to lead the way on regional transportation planning that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. But critics say that the regional planning agency’s proposal is anything but a model for sustainable planning.<\/p>\n

San Diego’s regional planning agency, SANDAG<\/a>, is the first to develop a plan since California passed a law requiring that regions try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through land use and transit planning. The law, SB 375<\/a>, went into effect in 2010, and falls under the Air Resources Board’s Sustainable Communities<\/a> program. The ARB\u00a0approved<\/a> SANDAG’s plan when it was submitted in November of 2011, saying it would meet short-term greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2020-2035.<\/p>\n

Critics <\/a>of the SANDAG plan, including the Cleveland National Forest Foundation<\/a>,\u00a0the Center for Biological Diversit<\/a>y and the\u00a0Sierra Club<\/a>,\u00a0say that the plan focuses too much on expanding freeways that extend into the far-reaches of the county and not enough on improving public transportation, bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian walkways in the more urban areas. Today, the State Attorney General’s office put out a statement<\/a> agreeing that:<\/p>\n

“…the plan does not adequately address air pollution and climate concerns and prioritizes expanding freeways while delaying public transit projects.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The statement also cited the region’s poor air quality and the need to invest in a healthy future for its citizens.<\/p>\n

The SANDAG plan has been carefully watched by planners and governments across California because it’s the first plan adopted under SB 375. “This is the first SCS [Sustainable Community Strategy], it’s a 40-year plan and it’s flawed,” claims Rachel Hooper, a managing partner at\u00a0Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger<\/a>, the firm representing the environmental groups. “It should not serve as a precedent for other transportation agencies as they adopt their SCSs in the future.”<\/p>\n

[module align=”left” width=”half” type=”pull-quote”]”What we have is a plan that is rooted in the past.”[\/module]<\/p>\n

For its legal clout, the suit draws on the\u00a0California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)<\/a>\u00a0which requires an environmental review of government projects, including impacts from air pollution and global warming. According to the Attorney General’s statement, the crux of the legal argument is that SANDAG cut corners with its Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and “did not adequately analyze the public health impacts of the increased air pollution.”<\/p>\n

“What we have is a plan that is rooted in the past, in transportation planning that we saw in the 1960s,” said Hooper, who claims SANDAG ignored suggestions for ways in which the plan could be improved to comply with state law. She said that the Attorney General’s decision to join the suit underscores the importance of getting this first plan right, so that it will be a sound model for other transportation agencies to follow.<\/p>\n

A representative from SANDAG told Forbes<\/a> that his agency worked hard to come up with a good plan that he believes is in compliance with CEQA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmental groups and the Attorney General’s office say that San Diego’s regional transit plan will add greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, not reduce them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[100,264,344,497,510],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-18604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","tag-ceqa","tag-greenhouse-gas-emissions","tag-m2g","tag-sb-375","tag-sierra-club"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nState Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Environmental groups and the Attorney General's office say that San Diego's regional transit plan will add greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, not reduce them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-24T01:45:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-01T23:46:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2012\/01\/highway_traffic_102810.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katrina Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kschwart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katrina Schwartz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/\",\"name\":\"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-24T01:45:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-01T23:46:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/39eb8de73cfee10d657c92249ec16212\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/39eb8de73cfee10d657c92249ec16212\",\"name\":\"Katrina Schwartz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/68d4dc78000d2d4fc0cdfcf780b2b7ba\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6a567574dafefa959593925eead665c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6a567574dafefa959593925eead665c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katrina Schwartz\"},\"description\":\"Katrina Schwartz is a journalist based in San Francisco. She's worked at KPCC public radio in LA and has reported on air and online for KQED since 2010.\u00a0 She covered how teaching and learning is changing for MindShift between 2012 and 2020. She is the co-host of the MindShift podcast and now produces KQED's Bay Curious podcast.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/mindshift\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kschwart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/katrinaschwartz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan | Climate Watch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan | Climate Watch","og_description":"Environmental groups and the Attorney General's office say that San Diego's regional transit plan will add greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, not reduce them.","og_url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/","og_site_name":"Climate Watch","article_published_time":"2012-01-24T01:45:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-01T23:46:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2012\/01\/highway_traffic_102810.jpg"}],"author":"Katrina Schwartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@kschwart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katrina Schwartz","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/","url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/","name":"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan | Climate Watch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-24T01:45:26+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-01T23:46:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/39eb8de73cfee10d657c92249ec16212"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/01\/23\/state-joins-suit-against-san-diego-regional-transportation-plan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"State Joins Suit against San Diego Regional Transportation Plan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/","name":"Climate Watch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/39eb8de73cfee10d657c92249ec16212","name":"Katrina Schwartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/68d4dc78000d2d4fc0cdfcf780b2b7ba","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6a567574dafefa959593925eead665c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6a567574dafefa959593925eead665c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katrina Schwartz"},"description":"Katrina Schwartz is a journalist based in San Francisco. She's worked at KPCC public radio in LA and has reported on air and online for KQED since 2010.\u00a0 She covered how teaching and learning is changing for MindShift between 2012 and 2020. She is the co-host of the MindShift podcast and now produces KQED's Bay Curious podcast.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/mindshift","https:\/\/twitter.com\/kschwart"],"url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/katrinaschwartz\/"}]}},"template_type":null,"featured_image_type":null,"is_audio_post":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24613,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18604\/revisions\/24613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"affiliates","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/affiliates?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/programs?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"collections","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collections?post=18604"},{"taxonomy":"interests","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/interests?post=18604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}