Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is putting climate change policies into place that could carve up the city.
Bass released a Climate Action Plan Thursday that aims to combat climate change with a strategy “designed to deliver concrete, measurable climate outcomes,” she claimed.
Many of the items expand on a previous plan, called the L.A. “Green New Deal,” that former Mayor Eric Garcetti put in place in 2019. The new plan includes14 objectives and more than 50 targets and actions.
“Cities are the front lines for the climate crisis. Angelenos are living with the impacts every day — from devastating wildfires and floods to rising heat and longer heat waves,” Bass wrote in a letter announcing the document. “This plan outlines how Angelenos will benefit from a resilient, carbon-free L.A.”
Most of the plan directs attention towards carbon emissions the Port of Los Angeles and L.A. International Airport along with goals to reduce water consumption, address heat risks, and expanding green spaces like parks.
The mayor’s goals for the plan include:
- Increasing renewable energy to 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
- Converting all of the L.A. Department of Transportation buses to electric by 2028.
- Working with airlines and fuel suppliers at LAX and Van Nuys Airport to increase the use of sustainable fuel by 28% by 2030.
- Passing a new ordinance this year to prohibit new oil and gas drilling, and creating a process to end current oil and gas extraction in the city.
- Installing 120,000 new electric vehicle chargers by 2030.
- Increasing L.A.’s use of local water so the city is 70% locally reliant by 2035, and reducing average per-person water use 25% by 2035.
- Establishing five new parks by 2030 and 10 by 2035, and substantially increasing the city’s tree canopy by 2035.
It’s unclear how much the ambitious plan would cost.
The mayor is set to speak about the plan Thursday at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys. A new water recycling project is under construction there, which Bass is likely to speak on.
Bass’ new climate plan, likely hyper-expensive, comes months before she’s set to face voters in her reelection bid. Reality television star Spencer Pratt and socialist councilwoman Nithya Raman are jockeying to unseat her.
