41 RESOLUTION NO: ____ _
2 A Resolution of the City of South Miami to the Environmental Protection Agency
3 Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in support of reducing greenhouse gas pollution
4 under the Clean Air Act.
5 WHEREAS, the decade from 2000 to 2010 was the warmest on record l, and 2005 and 2010 tied
6 for the hottest years on record2; and
7
8 WHEREAS, the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is approximately 392 parts per million3
9 (ppm); and
10
11 WHEREAS, one of the world's leading climate scientists, Dr. James Hansen, stated in 2008: "If
12 humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on
13 Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced
14 from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm4
; and
15
16 WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that current and future
17 greenhouse gas concentrations endanger public health5, and according to the Global Humanitarian Forum
18 climate change is already responsible every year for some 300,000 deaths, 325 million people seriously
19 affected, and economic losses worldwide of U.S. $125 billion6; and
20
21 WHEREAS, eextreme weather events, most notably heat waves and precipitation extremes, are
22 striking with increased frequency7, with deadly consequences for people and wildlife; in the United States
23 in 2011 alone, a record 14 weather and climate disasters occurred, including droughts, heat waves, and
24 floods, that cost at least $US 1 billion each in damages and loss of human lives 8; and
25
26 WHEREAS, climate change is affecting food security by lowering the growth and yields of
27 important crops9, and droughts, floods and changes in snowpack are altering water supplies 1o ; and
28
29 WHEREAS, scientists have concluded that by 2100 as many as a tenth of all species may be on
30 the verge of extinction due to climate change ll ; and
31
32 WHEREAS, the world's land-based ice is rapidly melting, threatening water supplies in many
33 regions and raising sea levels 12 , and Arctic summer sea ice extent has decreased to about half what it was
34 several decades ago 13
, with an accompanying drastic reduction in sea-ice thickness and volume l4
, which is
35 severely jeopardizing ice-dependent animals l5 ; and
36
37 WHEREAS, sea level is rising faster along the U.S. East Coast than it has for at least 2,000
38 yearsl6, is accelerating in pace 17
, and could rise by one to two meters in this century, threatening millions
39 of Americans with severe flooding l8 ; and
40
41 WHEREAS, for four decades, the Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe through a
42 proven, comprehensive, successful system of pollution control that saves lives and creates economic
43 benefits exceeding its costs by many times 19 ; and
44
45 WHEREAS, with the Clean Air Act, air quality in this country has improved significantly since
46 1970, despite major growth both in our economy and industrial production; and
47 WHEREAS, between 1970 and 1990, the six main pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act-
48 particulate matter and ground-level ozone (both of which contribute to smog and asthma), carbon
Page 1 of 4
1 monoxide, lead, sulfur and nitrogen oxides (the pollutants that cause acid rain) -were reduced by
2 between 47 percent and 93 percent, and airborne lead was virtually eliminated; and
3 WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act has produced economic benefits valued at $2 trillion, equivalent
4 to 30 times the cost of regulation; and
5
6 WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts VS. EPA (2007) that greenhouse
7 gases are "air pollutants" as defined by the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency has
8 the authority to regulate them; and
9
10 WHEREAS, climate change threatens to put much of South Florida underwater in the next
11 century; and
12
13 WHEREAS, The City of South Miami prides itself on being a leader in the fight against climate
14 change and for clean air, having signed the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, and working to
15 promote tree canopy;
16
17 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION
18 OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA:
19 Section 1. Climate change is not an abstract problem for the future or one that will only affect
20 far-distant places but rather climate change is happening now, we are causing it, and the longer we wait to
21 act, the more we lose and the more difficult the problem will be to solve; and we, the City of South Miami
22 Commission, on behalf of the residents of the City, do hereby urge the administrator of the Environmental
23 Protection Agency, Lisa P. Jackson, and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to fully employ and
24 enforce the Clean Air Act to do our part to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per
25 million.
26
27 Section 2. The City Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to Lisa P. Jackson of the
28 Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama.
29
30 Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect upon adoption.
31 Passed and adopted this __ day of ____ .2012.
32 ATTEST: APPROVED:
33
34
35
36 CITY CLERK MAYOR
37
38 COMMISSION VOTE:
39 Mayor Stoddard:
40 Vice Mayor Liebman:
41 READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM Commissioner Newman:
42 LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND Commissioner Harris:
43 EXECUTION THEREOF: Commissioner Welsh:
44
45
46
47 CITY ATTORNEY
Page 2 of 4
1 ENDNOTES
1 Press Release, National Aeronautic Space Association, NASA Research Finds Last Decade was Warmest on
Record, 2009 One of the Wannest Years (Jan. 21, 2010), www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jan/HQ_10-
017 _WarmesUemps.html.
2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA: 2010 Tied for Warmest Year on Record,
www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110112_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 aI., Target atmospheric CO 2: Where should humanity aim?, Open Atmos. Sci. 2, 217 (2008),
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha00410c.html.
5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases
under Section 202(a) ofthe 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.html(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. doL org/1 0.1 038/N CLI MATE 1452.
8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Extreme Weather 2011, http://www.noaa.gov/extreme2011/ (last
visited April 2, 2012); Press Release, World Meteorological Organization, 2011: world's 1 d h warmest year, warmest
year with La Nina on record, second-lowest Arctic sea ice extent (2012),
www.wmo.inUpages/mediacentre/press_releases/gcs_2011_en.html.
9 D.B. Lobell et aI., Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980, Science 333,616 (July 29, 2011),
www.sciencemag.org/contenUearly/2011/0S/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-
sector/water-resources.
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/contenU108/30/12337, 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 aI., Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummets in 2007, EOS 89, 2 (January 8,2008),
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2008E0020001.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 DA Rothrock, Decline in Arctic sea ice thickness from submarine and ICESat records: 1958-2008,
Geophysical Research Letters 36, L 15501 (2009), http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL039035.shtml.
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.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climateJaw_institute/the_arctic_meltdown/arctic_extinction_report.html.
16 A.C. Kemp et aI., Climate related sea-level variations over the past two millennia, PNAS 108, 11017 (2011),
http://www.pnas.org/contenU108/27/11017, summary at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110620183242.htm.
17 MA Merrifield et aI., An Anomalous Recent Acceleration of Global Sea Level Rise, Journal of Climate 22,5772
(2008), http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/2009JCLl2985.1.
18 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/1748-9326/7/1/014033,
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_acUpdfs/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/sect812/; and
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, 1990 to 2010 (1999),
http://www.epa.gov/air/sect812/.
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