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For Immediate Release, April 2, 2013

Contact:  Rose Braz, (510) 435-6809 or rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org  

West Hollywood Becomes 52nd U.S. City Urging Obama to Act on Climate Crisis

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.— As the Obama administration reportedly considers delaying a key rule aimed at cutting greenhouse gas pollution from new power plants, West Hollywood, Calif., has become the 52nd city to pass a resolution urging the president and the Environmental Protection Agency to move swiftly to make full use of the Clean Air Act to reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

The resolution, passed Monday night by the West Hollywood City Council, makes the city the latest U.S. community to join the Center for Biological Diversity’s national Clean Air Cities campaign, which has drawn support from cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, Detroit and Miami, Fla.

“Climate change and extreme weather is a real concern for cities like ours,” said Mayor Pro Tempore Abbe Land, who cosponsored the resolution. “The only way to  fight the greenhouse pollution causing this problem is by working together.   West Hollywood is proud to join cities from across America in urging President Obama to wield the Clean Air Act against catastrophic climate change.”

The U.S. EPA must finalize a carbon pollution rule for new power plants by April 13, but some Washington insiders say the agency is likely to miss that deadline — and may be considering weakening the rule because of pressure from big polluters.

Meanwhile, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose by a near-record amount last year, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration recently announced. Recent research has also raised fresh concerns about the dangers of climate change. Among the most disturbing findings is that climate change is already delivering periods of extreme heat that last longer than any living American has experienced and will warm our country by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, according to the recently released draft National Climate Assessment.

A 2012 UCLA study projected that climate change will triple the number of days above 95 degrees in downtown Los Angeles. The number of high-temperature days will quadruple in portions of the San Fernando Valley and rise fivefold in one area of high desert in L.A. County. The projections are for 2041 to 2060.

Higher temperatures are expected to cause more heat-related deaths and an increase in ground-level ozone, which is linked to increased incidence of respiratory disease as well as death. Approximately 1.25 million children and adults in Los Angeles County have been diagnosed with asthma, according to data from the California Health Interview Survey.

The Center’s Clean Air Cities campaign is working around the country to encourage cities to pass resolutions supporting the Clean Air Act and using the Act to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million, the level scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Similar resolutions have been approved in Albany and Ithaca, N.Y.; Berkeley, Santa Monica, Culver City, Arcata, Oxnard, Santa Cruz, Richmond, San Francisco, San Leandro and Los Angeles, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New Hope Borough, Pa.; Tucson, Ariz.; Boone, N.C.; Keene, N.H.; Portland, Maine; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Milwaukee and Madison, Wis.; Cambridge, Newton and Northampton, Mass.; Cincinnati and Oberlin, Ohio; Santa Fe, N.M.; Kansas City, Mo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Miami, Broward County, Pinecrest, Tampa, South Miami and Gulfport, Fla.; Chicago, Ill.; Teton County, Wyo.; Eugene, Ore.; Nashville, Tenn.; Kauai, Hawaii; Boulder, Colo.; Burlington, Vt.; Detroit, Mich.; Wilmington, Del.; Providence, R.I.; Gary, Ind.; Woodbridge, N.J; and Washington, D.C. Several other cities around the country will be considering resolutions over the next few months.  

Learn more about the Center’s Clean Air Cities campaign and get the facts about the Clean Air Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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