Steve’s Position On Addressing Climate Change

I would support legislation that reduces but, does not eliminate, American greenhouse gas production as well as incentivizes the growth of the renewable energy and nuclear energy industries at the same time. The burning of fossil fuels for energy will be needed for the foreseeable future as the long-term environmental impact of heavily mining lithium, nickel, palladium and other minerals needed to produce and store renewable energy are still unknown and the cost and safety of nuclear energy needs to become more feasible. The solution is finding the right balance among the three energy sources. However, what equally needs to be addressed is the amount of concrete and asphalt that has been poured throughout our region, the nation and the World for that matter. Both materials retain significantly more of the sun’s heat than dirt and vegetation, and this is significantly contributing to the rising temperature of the planet.

Whether or not drought in California is the result of climate change doesn’t change the fact that California has droughts. In order to address water shortages caused by droughts in California, I would support new and existing programs and projects that focus on four key areas: (i) protecting our current water systems from contamination such as wildfire toxins; (ii) water conservation by industry such as agriculture as well as the public at large; (iii) water restoration such as artificial groundwater recharging; and (iv) new water supply streams such as water recycling and desalination.

In fact, California’s 36th Congressional District is home to West Basin Municipal Water District’s water recycling facility, a world-class, state-of-the-art water recycling treatment facility in the City of El Segundo. It is the largest water recycling facility of its kind in the United States and was recognized by the National Water Research Institute in 2002 as one of only six national centers for water treatment technologies. The facility produces approximately 40 million gallons of useable water every day, conserving enough drinking water to meet the needs of 80,000 households for a year. It is a model facility that I will advocate to be implemented in other municipal water districts located in California to assist in addressing current and future droughts.