Res No 091-12-13648RESOLUTION NO: 91-12-13648
A Resolution of the City of South Miami to the Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in support of reducing greenhouse gas pollution
under the Clean Air Act.
WHEREAS, the decade from 2000 to 2010 was the warmest on record', and 2005 and 2010 tied
for the hottest years on record 2; and
WHEREAS, the current level of COz in the atmosphere is approximately 392 parts per million
(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 COz will need to be reduced
from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm4; and
WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that current and future
greenhouse gas concentrations endanger public health', 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 6; and
WHEREAS, eextreme weather events, most notably heat waves and precipitation extremes, are
striking with increased frequency', with deadly consequences for people and wildlife; in the United States
in 2011 alone, a record 14 weather and climate disasters occurred, including droughts, heat waves, and
floods, that cost at least $US 1 billion each in damages and loss of human lives 8; and
WHEREAS, climate change is affecting food security by lowering the growth and yields of
important crops9, and droughts, floods and changes in snowpack are altering water supplies 10; and
WHEREAS, scientists have concluded that by 2100 as many as a tenth of all species may be on
the verge of extinction due to climate change "; and
WHEREAS, the world's land -based ice is rapidly melting, threatening water supplies in many
regions and raising sea levels'z, and Arctic summer sea ice extent has decreased to about half what it was
several decades ago", with an accompanying drastic reduction in sea -ice thickness and volume14, which is
severely jeopardizing ice - dependent animals"; and
WHEREAS, sea level is rising faster along the U.S. East Coast than it has for at least 2,000
years16, is accelerating in pace', and could rise by one to two meters in this century, threatening millions
of Americans with severe flooding 18; 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' 9; 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
Page 1 of 4
Res. No. 91 -12 -13648
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, equivalent
to 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, climate change threatens to put much of South Florida underwater in the next
century; and
WHEREAS, The City of South Miami prides itself on being a leader in the fight against climate
change and for clean air, having signed the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, and working to
promote tree canopy;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA:
Section 1. 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 City of South Miami
Commission, on behalf of the residents of the City, do hereby urge the administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, Lisa P. Jackson, 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.
Section 2. The City Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to Lisa P. Jackson of the
Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama.
Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect upon adoption.
Passed and adopted this 1 stday of May 2012.
ATTEST:
MY CLERK
1
READ AND P OVED AS
LANG ., LEG11L1TY !7
E T THEREOF:
F.11
/' ?q
MAYOR
COMMISSION VOTE:
5 -0
Mayor Stoddard:
Yea
Vice Mayor Liebman:
Yea
Commissioner Newman:
Yea
Commissioner Harris:
Yea
Commissioner Welsh:
Yea
Page 2 of 4
ENDNOTES
1 Press Release, National Aeronautic Space Association, NASA Research Finds Last Decade was Warmest on
Record, 2009 One of the Warmest Years (Jan. 21, 2010), www.nasa.gov /home /hqnews /2010 /jan /HQ_10-
017_Warmest_temps.html.
2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA: 2010 Tied for Warmest Year on Record,
www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories20ll/20110112_globalstats.html (last visited on 3/30/12).
3 Co2now.org, What the World Needs to Watch, http: / /co2now.org (last visited on 3/30/12); Earth System Research
Laboratory of NOAA, Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, www.esrl.noaa.gov /gmd /ccgg /trends/ (last visited on
4/2/12).
4 J. Hansen et al., Target atmospheric CO2: Where should humanity aim ?, Open Atmos. Sci. 2, 217 (2008),
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha0041 Oc.html.
5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Endangem7ent and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases
under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air-Act, 74 Federal Register 66496 -66546 (Dec. 15, 2009) (to be codified at 40
C.F.R. ch. 1), http: / /epa. gov / climatechange /endangerment.htmi (last visited 4/2/12).
6 Global Humanitarian Forum, The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis (2009),
www.eird.org /publicaciones /humanimpactreport.pdf, p.1 of pdf.
7 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to
Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) (2012), http: / /ipcc- wg2.gov /SREX/; U.S. Global Change Research
Program, Global Climate Change Impacts in the US: Global Climate Change (2009),
http: / /www.globalchange.gov /publications/ reports /scientific- assessments /us- impacts /full - report/global- climate- change;
D. Coumou and S. Rahmstorf, A decade of weather extremes, Nature Climate Change (2012),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1 038/NC LI MATE 1452.
6 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Extreme Weather 2011, http : / /www.noaa.gov /extreme2011/ (last
visited April 2, 2012); Press Release, World Meteorologic=al Organization, 2011: world's 10�h warmest year, warmest
year with La Nina on record, second - lowest Arctic sea ice extent (2012),
www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press-releases/ges-201 1 _en. html.
9 D.B. Lobell et al., Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980, Science 333; 616 (July 29, 2011),
www .sciencemag.org /contenVearly/ 2011 /05/04 /science. 1204531. abstract; U.S. Global Change Research Program,
Global Climate Change Impacts in the US: Agriculture (2009), www.globalchange.gov /publications /reports /scientific-
assessments/us- impacts /full- report/climate- change- impacts -by- sector /agriculture.
10 U.S. Global Change Research Program, Global Climate Change Impacts in the US: Water Resources (2009),
www.globalchange.gov /publications/ reports /scientific- assessments /us- impacts /full - report/climate- change- impacts -by-
s e cto dwa t o r- re s o u rce s.
11 I.M.D. Maclean and R.J. Wilson, Recent ecological responses to climate change support predictions of high
extinction risk, PNAS 108, 12337 (2011), http:// www .pnas.org /content/108/30/12337, summary at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110711151457.htm.
12 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report (2007),
http: / /www.ipcc.ch/ publications_ and _data /publications_ipcc_fourth_ assessment _report_Synthesis_report.htm, pp. 30,
49 of pdf.
13 J. Stroeve et al., Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummets in 2007, EOS 89, 2 (January 8, 2008),
http: / /www.agu.org/ pubs / crossref /2008/2008EO020001.shtml, p. 13 of pdf.
14 Polar Science Center, Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly, version 2,
http: / /psc.apl.washington.edu /wordpress/ research /projects /arctic- sea - ice - volume - anomaly/ (last visited April 3, 2012);
R. Kwok and D.A. Rothrock, Decline in Arctic sea ice thickness from submarine and ICESat records: 1958 -2008,
Geophysical Research Letters 36, L15501 (2009), http: / /www.agu.org/ pubs / crossref /2009/2009GLO39035.shtmi.
Page 3 of 4
15 Center for Biological Diversity and Care for the Wild International, Extinction: It's Not Just for Polar Bears (2010),
http: / /www. biologicaId iversity. org /programs /cl imate_law_ institute / the_ arctic_ meltdown /a rctic_extinction_report. html.
16 A. C. Kemp et al., Climate related sea -level variations over the past two millennia, PNAS 108, 11017 (2011),
http: / /www.pnas.org /contenVl08 /27/11017, summary at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110620183242.htm.
17 M.A. Merrifield et al., An Anomalous Recent Acceleration of Global Sea Level Rise, Journal of Climate 22, 5772
(2008), http: / /journals.ametsoc. org/ doi/abs/10.1175/2009JCLI2985.1.
1e B.H. Strauss, Tidally adjusted estimates of topographic vulnerability to sea level rise and flooding for the
contiguous United States, Environmental Research Letters 7 (2012), http: / /iopscience.iop.org /l748- 9326/7/1/014033,
summary at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120314111738.htm.
19 For Clean Air Act facts, see
Center for Biological Diversity, The Clean Air Act Works (2011),
http : / /www.biologicaldiversity.org /programs /climate_law_ institute /global_ warming_ litigation /clean_air_act/pdfs /CleanA
irActWorks_032011.pdf; and
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, 1970 to 1990 (1997),
http: / /www.epa.gov /air /sect8l2 /; and
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, 1990 to 2010 (1999),
http://www.epa.gov/air/sect8l2/.
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