Sierra Club Letter to Mayor Bowser on Vehicle Electrification

Mayor Muriel Bowser
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
 
Dear Mayor Bowser,
 
The Sierra Club thanks you for signing the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act. We again applaud you for your commitment to make DC carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2050, a goal which the Clean Energy DC law moves us much closer to achieving.

The law requires that within 180 days, the Mayor establish a transportation electrification program requiring public buses, large private fleets, commercial motor carriers, limousines and taxis to begin to transition to electric power, with all of those vehicles completely electric by 2045.

Implementing the law will be challenging. It is vital, therefore, that its implementation include a plan for public engagement from the very start. The Sierra Club requests that while working to design the transportation electrification program, the Mayor’s Office and participating agencies plan public hearings, listening sessions, and feedback processes from the start of the formation of the implementation plan. Stakeholders should have easily understandable channels for passively and actively engaging, and learning about, the transformations being undertaken. Feedback to the public should be frequent, honest, respectful, and meaningful.
 
The Mayor’s Office should establish roadmaps, settle on general policy goals, and mobilize public participation. Showing stakeholders how the proceedings will be structured will help stakeholders contribute constructively at each stage, understanding how each step relates to the whole. Moreover, agreeing upon at least an initial roadmap will improve management of staff resources.
 
In guiding and managing the transformation of the transportation sector in DC, the Mayor’s Office has an opportunity and even an obligation to ensure that the resulting system is more economically efficient, more environmentally benign, and more socially equitable. The Sierra Club asks for an agenda for transportation transformation in DC that builds on a solid foundation of plans, studies, initiatives, pilots, and demonstrations. The key tasks of this transformation are articulation of a vision and desired end-state, the crafting of an ambitious and flexible roadmap for reaching that vision, and a synthesis and integration of a wide range of ongoing plans, stakeholder goals, and perspectives.
 
This Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act presents a tremendous leadership opportunity for DC. We look forward to engaging with you on its implementation.
 
Sincerely,

Mark Rodeffer
Chair, Sierra Club DC Chapter

CC:
Jeff Marootian, Director, DC Department of Transportation
Tommy Wells, Director, DC Department of Energy and Environment