In an alarming turn of events, a group of civil rights activists is suing the California Air Resources Board.
The lawsuit lists CARB's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by limiting new housing construction as something that is harming the community. The activist group, The Two Hundred, say the plan is driving up the cost of housing, worsening poverty and victimizing minority communities.
The group originates from the Bay Area and is made up of longtime civil rights activists who particularly fight against discrimination.
The plan, the Global Warming Solutions Act, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, committed California to a goal of reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions.
The California Air Resources Board was then required to write “scoping” plans every five years detailing how the specified GHG reduction targets would be met. Well, the 2017 scoping plan includes "guidelines" for new housing that the lawsuit is calling "staggering, unlawful and racist."
The lawsuit continued to state that CARB's new GHG housing provisions have a "disparate effect on minority communities," and “increase the cost and litigation risks of building housing, intentionally worsen traffic congestion and raise fuel and electricity costs."
The Two Hundred states a better solution would be to build homes on land that is outside the current urban boundaries.
CARB previously unsuccessfully tried to get the lawsuit thrown out but Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jane Cardoza issued an order in October 'allowing it to go forward.'
Read more at the Press-Telegram.