REFERENCE TITLE: climate change

State of Arizona Senate Fifty-fourth Legislature First Regular Session 2019

SCM 1004

Introduced by Senators Mendez: Dalessandro, Peshlakai, Quezada, Rios; Representatives Longdon, Rodriguez, Salman

 

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

 

urging the arizona corporation commission to take steps to combat climate change.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Arizona Corporation Commission:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the average temperature in the United States has increased by 1.3°F to 1.9°F since recordkeeping began in 1895, and most of this increase has occurred since about 1970.  The most recent decade was the nation's warmest on record; and

Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that Arizona has warmed up by two degrees Fahrenheit in the last century and that approximately 1,300 deaths from exposure to excessive natural heat have occurred in Arizona from 2005 to 2015; and

Whereas, nearly two-thirds of Arizonans believe that climate change is one of the most serious problems facing the world today; and

Whereas, three-quarters of Arizonans believe the Earth's temperature is rising and, of those, 79 percent attributed the warming to human activities; and

Whereas, the snowpack in Arizona has been decreasing since the 1950s, decreasing water supplies and shortening the winter season for the state's tourism and recreation; and

Whereas, increased warming, drought and insect outbreaks, all caused by or linked to climate change, have increased wildfires and impacts to people and ecosystems in the state; and

Whereas, the effects of climate change pose a threat to this state's top agricultural products, and reduced yields from increasing temperatures and increasing competition for scarce water supplies will displace jobs in Arizona rural communities; and

Whereas, in response to these and other widely recognized consequences of climate change, 195 countries negotiated the 2015 Paris Agreement in order to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures; and

Whereas, President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement will not stop the global community's efforts to reduce carbon emissions and halt global warming; and

Whereas, We Are Still In, a coalition of several states and thousands of businesses, universities and local governments, has committed to meeting the United States goal under the Paris Agreement despite the president's withdrawal; and

Whereas, this state can and should join the We Are Still In Coalition and actively contribute to reducing carbon emissions and rising global temperatures, including by promoting renewable energy generation.

Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring, prays:

1.  That the Arizona Corporation Commission increase this state's renewable energy requirements, as provided in R14-2-1804 of the Arizona Administrative Code, for affected utilities to 25 percent by 2025, 35 percent by 2030 and 40 percent by 2035.

2.  That the Arizona Corporation Commission undertake efforts to modernize this state's electricity distribution grid, including a capacity analysis to inform efficient and effective future placement of distributed generation and storage.