Reductions in Vehicle Miles Traveled a Slow, Difficult Process

"Richard Katz: There is an interesting division on the RTAC between people who believe that if we spend months creating the perfect model, then by definition we'll have a perfect outcome, and other folks who believe that a model is a tool, that it's not the end all and be all, and that a model is only as good as what you put in it. Frankly, some of us feel that we are spending too much time trying to design a table as opposed to figuring out what the goal is or what the policy is. That, in essence, is going to be an argument that will be taking place at the RTAC over the next several meetings as we try to reach consensus...

...If you choose a start date of today-as opposed to 1990, which was the start date or baseline for AB 32-then you ignore people who have done a lot of work or made a lot of progress. Many cities have gone ahead and done programs already. They are ahead of the curve on sustainability. If, all of the sudden the baseline is today, their low-hanging fruit is gone. Other areas that didn't do anything-and in fact exacerbated the problem by not doing anything-get the benefit of going after that low-hanging fruit while early adopters have to deal with more complicated, difficult, or expensive things. That is something we need to find a way to delve into."

Thanks to James Brasuell