Page 8 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2018

Plan Bay Area 2040 Transportation Improvement and Air
Quality Conformity Public Review
Release of Draft 2019 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis
for the Amended Plan Bay Area 2040 and the 2019 TIP
for Public Review and Comment
The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) lists the near-term transportation projects, programs and investment priorities for the San Francisco Bay Area’s surface transportation system--projects that have a federal interest and locally and state-funded regionally significant projects.
OPINION ~ Dairy Farmer or Climate Activist?
Interested persons are invited to comment on these documents during MTC’s
Programming and Allocations Committee meeting, currently scheduled
for Wednesday, July 11 at 9:40 a.m., or immediately following MTC’s Administration Committee meeting, whichever occurs later, at 375 Beale Street, San Francisco, CA.
DEADLINE for written comments is 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 19.
Submit comments to MTC’s Public Information Office at 375 Beale Street, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94105 or fax to MTC at 415-536-9800 or send via e-mail to info@bayareametro.gov.
However, some businesses cannot afford the nearly $400,000+ investment of a methane digester. Luckily, some local dairies have adopted “green” farming practices, such as Straus Family Creamery and Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company. Furthermore, the government does offer programs and grants, as previously mentioned, but that still may not be enough incentive for some farmers to “go green.”
At its regularly scheduled September 12, 2018, Programming and Allocations Committee meeting, MTC is scheduled to consider public comments. MTC is scheduled to approve the final transportation-air quality conformity analysis and the 2019 TIP on Wednesday, September 26, 2018.
DO YOU HAVE BIG IDEAS?
Do you have fresh ideas to improve your commute to work or to help folks get around the congested Bay Area? Then this could be your time to shine. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are looking for your biggest, brightest, billion dollar (or more!) ideas for redefining the way we travel around the Bay Area.
Request for Transformative Projects – transportation project ideas that have the potential to revolutionize how we move around the region between now and 2050. The Transformative Projects should provide new
and creative solutions for Bay Area transportation and should be large in scale – costing $1 billion or more. In addition to our public agency partners, individuals, private sector companies and nongovernmental organizations are encouraged to participate.
SUBMIT VIA FORM ONLINE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp QLSdZim4rm5PFoV972CKVBS9va7sy7T6FbySXWX6tIUR-LSbBhQ/viewform
Fossil fuels were a fundamental necessity for the development and growth
of the U.S., but we have surpassed that reliance. Indeed, we have developed alternative energy technologies, such as biogas, wind, solar, and geothermal, but we have yet to implement any of these practices on a nation-wide scale. Our economy relies on the profits from fossil fuels, as do their owners and investors.
Proposals are due on September 6, 2018.
Every year we fail to recognize climate change as an inevitable failure of human behaviors, the closer we come to our own extinction. If the climate movement does not receive validity from the President or federal government, the agriculture industry has the ability to legitimize our impending expiration.
Your ideas will be evaluated by an expert panel of engineers and transportation plannersfor their feasibility, potential regional benefits, alignment with program goals and creativity. All icontestants are eligible for prizes including a $100 Visa cash card for the finalists and a $500 Visa cash card for the winner.
8 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 7/18
By Taylor Flores
Humans are well aware of the imminent effects of climate change. In fact,
drought-like conditions and extended fire seasons will be our new-normal due to the sheer amount of human-related greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, one variable of the climate change equation that is not well known among the general population is the effect of livestock on the production of greenhouse gasses.
View and comment on the Draft 2019 TIP and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for the Amended Plan Bay Area 2040 and the 2019 TIP online at: http://mtc.ca.gov/our-work/fund-invest/transportation- improvement-program, and at MTC’s offices at the Bay Area Metro Center, 375 Beale Street, San Francisco - or - 415-778-6757
In 2014, the livestock sector
created 8% of the total U.S. methane emissions. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas that traps and absorbs heat more effectively than carbon dioxide. Annually, the average cow produces 100 kg of methane, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from an average passenger vehicle traveling about 6,000 miles. Multiply that number by 70,000 cows and Sonoma County has a big problem on its hands.
Copies will be sent to major public libraries throughout the Bay Area. Please ask your local library to obtain a copy for your review.
In the 2015 State of the State Address, Governor Brown made Natural and Working Lands the fifth pillar in California’s Climate Strategy, which aims to “remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through biological processes...” Additionally, programs such as Healthy Soils Program and Alternative
Manure Management give further incentive for farmers to transition towards environmentally-friendly practices. Some of these practices include: highly digestible feeds, grinding forages, rotational grazing, and most notably, digester manure management. Through anaerobic digestion, the methane from cows’ manure is transformed into biogas that can be used as electricity; the residual solid matter can be used as compost or bedding, while the residual liquid can be used as flush water or fertilizer. Not only does a methane digester reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere, but it uses this gas to power the dairy itself, rather than relying on traditional fossil fuels.
The agricultural ties run deep in Sonoma County with more than 70,000 cattle and calves as of January 1, 2017 according to the Sonoma County Crop Report. Even my own grandfather was a hog rancher in Petaluma.
Hope is restored with the new technologies developed through carbon farming.
The climate crisis has the potential to redistribute the wealth and power in our country, which some argue may in turn alleviate other social inequities.
This is not to say that addressing climate change will answer every social injustice, but we have to start somewhere. On a localized level, I suggest for Sonoma County to increase regulations within farming practices; Straus and Point Reyes are only two examples of what can be achieved with sustainable farming practices. Sonoma could set a standard for not only the agriculture industry but collectively set a precedence for our state or country as a whole.