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With change upon us, new county budget helps prepare

By Terra Lawson-Remer

If you told me three years ago I would spend weeks on end isolated at home, gas would cost $6 a gallon, I’d be watching a war in Europe, and reproductive freedom would be illegal or close to it in a majority of the nation, I wouldn’t have believed you.

But the reality is that our world has changed — and this change is being thrust upon us from all directions. With the right planning and investments, we can weather that change — and create a stronger, more resilient San Diego County.

This was my goal when I voted last month to approve the County of San Diego’s new $7.35 billion budget. It’s a resiliency budget — an investment plan to make sure that San Diego is ready not only to respond to the change we’re experiencing but to enact the change we need.

The new county budget furthers the work we’ve done, and continue to do, to make county government more equitable, sustainable, responsive and representative of our communities.

As we feel the heat from rising temperatures, this budget invests $100 million to fight climate change, expand county parks and community gardens, acquire land for the preservation of natural habitats, plant trees, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and set up “cool zones” around our region for you to enjoy air conditioning for free.

As we grow more concerned about sewage in our oceans, this budget invests $40 million in improving our stormwater infrastructure to keep pollution from our cities from flowing onto our beaches.

As we see people struggling on the street, perhaps talking to themselves, this budget pays for new Mobile Crisis Response Teams staffed with trained psychiatric clinicians to respond quickly — allowing our sheriffs and police officers to focus on fighting crime.

As we are squeezed by inflation and need a little extra help to make ends meet, this budget will fund new resources to help residents access food and health care through programs like CalFresh and Medi-Cal.

As we witness wildfires more frequently threaten our homes, this budget bolsters our firefighting fleet with a new dual-engine helicopter with the ability to fly at night and carry more water and emergency responders.

But we’re not waiting for danger to arrive at our doorsteps — we’re also investing $2 million to reduce the risk of wildfire through vegetation management, improved evacuation routes, and fire breaks.

And as we venture out more to reconnect with our neighbors, you can experience the millions of dollars in funding set aside in this budget to support vital programs, such as 24hour rapid testing to measure beach water quality; $250,000 for San Dieguito Park to improve the safety of the bridge and rehabilitate the three lookout towers; and $6 million for land acquisition, design, and environmental review for the long-awaited San Dieguito Local Park — a new 5-acre park that will include a soccer field, court sports, and a playground.

If you know an organization that is doing important work that should receive funding, please have them reach out to me at terra.lawson-remer@sdcounty. ca.gov.

We are a resilient region — and this budget reflects that spirit. We can’t always control what comes our way. But we will continue to work hard locally to be prepared for winds of change, no matter where they come from, so we can chart a better future for us all.

THE COUNTY BUDGET includes money for new Mobile Crisis Response Teams staffed with trained psychiatric clinicians.

Courtesy photo

Oil, gas costing us more than we thought

The idea that oil companies and gasoline refiners could gouge Californians — and other Americans to a lesser degree — by as much as 100% of the previous price of gasoline seemed utterly preposterous until February.

That’s when President Biden slapped an embargo on Russian oil, depriving California refineries of between 2% and 3% of the supplies they had been using.

Average pump prices instantly rose from $4.70 per gallon across the state to above $6. Later, in some places, prices even topped $9 per gallon, about twice their price just six months ago.

That’s gouging, pure and simple. Yes, the worldwide price of oil was up, but not in anywhere near such large proportions. Many citizens are still making excuses for oil companies, but their financial reports make it clear they are reaping windfall profits in the billions of dollars.

Now comes a new report that indicates the money motorists are losing to the cartel-like oil industry is just a fraction of what consumption of oil and gas really costs us, when all the wrinkles and ripples are figured in.

How does $10 trillion by the year 2045 sound? That’s the figure arrived at by the Consumer Watchdog advocacy group, whose analysts are the first to even attempt figuring all the expenses that are and will be created by use of oil and natural gas over the next 20 yearsplus.

The report gains credibility from the fact that Consumer Watchdog is the outfit whose 1987 ballot initiative curtailing insurance prices in California now saves people here more than $3 billion per year. That’s an average of almost $80 per year per Californian, of all ages and ethnicities.

So it can be a mistake to ignore the group’s oil cost estimates, as virtually all California media have since issuance of the report in late spring.

Here are just some of the annual costs listed in the report from use of oil and natural gas over the next 23 years: $94.2 billion from wildfires and drought; $1.4 billion in heat-related deaths indirectly caused by California oil wells; $339 billion for smog controls.

That’s a total annual cost of $434.6 billion for using and drilling petroleum, or $10 trillion over 23 years, about 70% more than it costs to run the federal government for one year — including huge programs like Medicare, Social Security and the military.

Are those figures realistic? Look at the wildfire number: Despite all its mitigation moves of the last 25 years, California is the No. 2 emitter of greenhouse gases among U.S. states, surpassed only by Texas.

The state Air Resources Board says 85% of the greenhouse gases produced here stem from production and use of fossil fuels, helping further both dry conditions and extreme heat that have exacerbated the state’s pre-existing problems with wildfires, vastly driving up property damage, lives lost and firefighting costs.

“One third of the costs of drought (and the fires it furthers) can be attributed to greenhouse gas emissions caused by (burning) fossil fuels,” says the report.

Global warming driven by oil use will add to the costs listed, too, by raising sea levels and destroying further billions of dollars in property before 2045.

Then there’s the smog mostly created by both vehicles and oil- or gas-fired electric generating plants. Costs of treating emphysema, not to mention creation of electric vehicles and other smog-fighting measures, already amount to more than damage from wildfires.

It all makes the state’s efforts to cut greenhouse gases via a cap-and-trade program, smokestack filters and other tactics look puny.

What’s more, the estimated $10 trillion, 23year cost of using and drilling oil and natural gas does not include what motorists spend for gasoline, the price of which has fallen from its peak, but is never again likely to sink to pre-February levels.

All these numbers matter only if their sheer shock value causes actions.

But that’s not likely, as this report now looks to be ignored, just as the state auditor’s springtime report on the unreliability of California housing need estimates never spurred so much as a word of reaction from either Gov. Newsom or state Attorney General Rob Bonta.

california focus

tom elias