Environment : Return our air, water, and land to health

By Luis J. Rodriguez

A clean, green and healthy living environment for all. Greater incentives and use of efficient and technology-advanced solar, water and wind energy systems. No fracking--hydrofracturing--and begin process of removing the state's dependence on fossil fuels. Remove industrial wastes as thorough and efficiently as possible. End all nuclear energy plants. Fully regulate industrial pollution violators.

3.1 Fossil Fuels

Even in California where environmental values have been espoused for decades, the practice of hydraulic fracturing has actually been endorsed by some Democrats, most notably Jerry Brown. While there is no surprise that the Republican candidates continue to claim that drilling for oil is the solution, the Luis J. Rodriguez Campaign supports a complete ban on the practice of hydraulic fracturing, tax oil production at exponential levels, and strongly supports the push away from fossil fuels throughout our economy, especially in agriculture and transportation.

3.2 Political Appointments

The Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency oversees the California Air Resources Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the State Water Resources Control Board -- and is appointed by the Governor of California.

Matt Rodriguez, the current Secretary of the California EPA, has not served the people, he has served the interest of business either on purpose or through incompetence. Link to examples.

The Department of Toxic Substance Control has consistently failed in its duties. It has allowed polluters to continue to pollute using a lack of staff as a cover, but the Department's behavior includes reducing the fines of hazardous waste polluters, allowing hazardous waste facilities to operate without permits, and not even trying to collect $140,000,000 from polluters that walked away from contaminated sites. They collected $16 million of that money since last year when their dereliction of duty was brought to the public's attention.

3.3 Hazardous, Toxic, Waste, and Pollution

There are 5,341 EPA Superfund Sites in California, many of which have forced local community groups to organize and hold the polluters responsible. More broadly, the current political framework pits the environment against the economy -- Republicans clearly take this position, but the Democratic Party has also regularly sided on the side of polluting businesses as opposed to the poor communities where toxic waste is regularly dumped. Again, the Luis J. Rodriguez Campaign for Governor aims to connect all of these disparate and isolated struggles to build a powerful movement that imagines a new California.