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Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation PETITION of Youth Petitioners and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation For the promulgation of a rule to ensure an effective emissions reduction trajectory that is based on best climate science and will achieve safe atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide by 2100. Brad De Noble De Noble Law Offices LLC 11517 Old Glenn Highway, Suite 202 Eagle River, Alaska 99577 T: (907) 694-4345 E-mail: [email protected] On Behalf of Petitioners August 28, 2017 Pursuant to AS §§ 44.62.220, Alaska youth, including Essau S , Cade T , Macy Rae K , Linnea L , Jasmine I , Nathan B , Tasha E , Summer S , Liszka B , Lila S , Cecily S , Ananda L , Griffin P , Lexine D , and Solomon S , and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, a project of the Alaska Center Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation (collectively, “Petitioners”), hereby petition the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (“the Department”) for the adoption of a regulation under the Department’s authority and pursuant to its obligations under the Constitution of the State of Alaska, the Public Trust Doctrine, and statutes and regulations, to protect the rights and common welfare of present and future generations of Alaskans by implementing an enforceable, effective carbon dioxide (“CO2”) and GHG reduction strategy that is based on the best climate science and is aimed at ensuring that Alaska does its part to restore the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (“ppm”) by 2100. Such a rule is necessary in order to ensure that the worst impacts of climate change and ocean acidification are avoided and do not cause further catastrophic and irreversible harm to present and future generations of Alaskan youth. Substance of the regulation requested: Specifically, Petitioners request that the Department promulgate the rule proposed below: *** Proposed Rule PREAMBLE: Human activity, primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels, has increased the global concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Science informs us that the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations has already warmed the global climate system and acidified the oceans, causing significant adverse effects to human health, safety, and welfare and Earth’s natural systems. Left unabated, global climate destabilization and ocean acidification will have long-term catastrophic effects on human systems and the habitability of Alaska and the nation. The best climate science indicates that the global concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere must be rapidly reduced to no more than 350 parts per million (ppm) to protect the climate system humans depend upon. If global CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, and continue to decline thereafter, and there is significant reforestation around the world, global atmospheric CO2 levels are likely to stabilize at 350 ppm by 2100 thus avoiding the most severe impacts of climate destabilization. These targets reflect the global average emissions reductions required to remedy our climate emergency without accounting for the differentiated and equitable responsibilities of individual states and their historic contribution to carbon pollution. The goal of this rule is to protect the rights of present and future generations of all Alaskans, including Alaska Natives, to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate system, and to safeguard their inheritance of the legacy and heritage of the State of Alaska. Specifically, this rule is intended to: (1) fulfill the State’s Public Trust obligation to prevent waste and substantial impairment of trust resources (2) achieve Alaska’s constitutional “principles that all persons have 1 a natural right to life, liberty, [and] the pursuit of happiness…[and] that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law;”1 (3) realize Alaska’s constitutional obligation “to secure and transmit to succeeding generations our heritage of political, civil and religious liberty;”2 (4) to carry out the Department’s statutory duty “to conserve, improve, and protect [Alaska’s] natural resources and environment and control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being;”3 and (5) to fulfill the Department’s statutory duty to “manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations.”4 DEFINITIONS: 1. “Best Climate Science” means: a. the most current scientific knowledge and understanding from qualified climate system scientists on safe levels of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases and their near-term and long-term impacts; and b. the most current scientific knowledge and understanding from qualified climate system scientists as to the greenhouse gas emissions reductions and CO2 sequestration required to stabilize the climate system and preserve a habitable and safe climate system for future generations. 2. “Carbon Budget” means the total amount of CO2 emissions that can be released over a specific time frame while ensuring a return to the maximum safe limit of 350 ppm of CO2 by 2100, or a lower level as may be determined by the best climate science. 3. “CO2” means carbon dioxide. 4. “Consumption Emissions and Inventory” means a greenhouse gas inventory focused on all emissions associated with materials and services, including electricity and fuels, consumed in Alaska, including estimates of embedded emissions associated with the life cycle of such materials and services. These emissions are included regardless of whether they physically originate in Alaska. A consumption-based inventory uniquely counts out- of-state emissions associated with producing and transporting the products, services, and fuels consumed in Alaska. It also counts emissions associated with producing and transporting fuels that are used to generate electricity consumed in Alaska. 5. “Department” means the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. 6. “Greenhouse Gas” or “GHG” means any gas that has contributed to anthropogenic global warming, including but not limited to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexaflouride. 7. “In-boundary Emissions and Inventory” means the greenhouse gas inventory focused on all emissions produced within the state and also includes emissions associated with the extraction, transportation, refinement, and combustion of fossil fuels extracted in Alaska, whether such transportation, refinement, or combustion occurs within or outside of the state. In-boundary emissions inventories exclude many of the emissions associated with materials and goods produced outside, and imported into, the state. 1 ALASKA CONST. art. I, § 1. 2 ALASKA CONST. Preamble. 3 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(a). 4 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(b). 2 8. “MMTCO2” means million metric tons CO2. 9. “MMTCO2e” means million metric tons CO2 equivalent. 10. “PPM” means parts per million atmospheric concentration. EMISSION REDUCTIONS: 1. The Department shall regulate stationary and mobile sources of CO2 emissions and the extraction of fossil fuels within the State of Alaska to: a. Ensure that Alaska reduces its total in-boundary and consumption CO2 emissions to at least 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 in order for its emission reductions to be consistent with the global average emission reductions required to return global atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm by the end of the century; b. Establish interim benchmarks requirements for minimum levels of emission reductions for at least the years 2020, 2030, and 2040 to guide progress toward the 2050 reduction requirement; c. Ensure that Alaska’s in-boundary CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 8.5 percent per year beginning in 2018; and d. Prepare a numerical statewide goal or “carbon budget,” taking into account both in-boundary and consumption emissions, in order to meet the requirements of subsections (a) through (c) of this section so that Alaska may do its share in achieving 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere by the year 2100. CARBON ACCOUNTING AND INVENTORY: 2. The Department shall provide an accounting to Alaska citizens of its management of the atmospheric trust asset by publishing annual progress reports on statewide GHG emissions measured in both MMTCO2 and MMTCO2e. These reports must include an accounting and inventory for each and every substantial source of GHG emissions within Alaska, including, but not limited to: a. in-boundary emissions from the transportation, industrial, commercial, institutional, residential, electrical, agricultural, and waste sectors; and b. consumption emissions associated with Alaskans’ consumption of goods, services, and materials imported into Alaska. Reports must be available to the public no later than January 31 of each year, beginning in the year 2018, with a lag time of no more than one year (i.e., the 2018 report should contain emissions data from 2017). CLIMATE ACTION PLAN: 3. Within six months of adoption of these regulations, the Department, with input from stakeholders, shall adopt a Climate Action Plan to meet the reduction requirements specified herein. The Department, with input from stakeholders, shall amend the Climate Action Plan as necessary to address any adjustments to the reduction requirements and interim benchmarks affected by revisions
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