Los Altos is considering reach codes to ban natural gas in all new homes. The codes were written by Silicon Valley Clean Energy and Peninsula Clean Energy.
Mayor Jan Pepper is the CEO of Peninsula Clean Energy. Her position presents a clear conflict of interest, which is why I filed complaints with the Fair Political Practices Commission.
For those residents who are objecting to the proposed new reach codes, I would like to call their attention to parallels with the current difficulties of fighting an invisible enemy: the coronavirus.
There were many countries that were slow to react to this insidious threat, resulting in health consequences due to the slowness of adopting preventive actions.
In her April 22 Town Crier column (“Earth gets a breather”), Los Altos Mayor Jan Pepper calls on us to protect our planet by addressing climate change with the same commitment and cooperation we have all been demonstrating in protecting ourselves and our community from COVID-19.
We now have an opportunity to do just that. By moving toward electric appliances in new construction (versus gas), we’ll reduce fossil fuel emissions exacerbating climate change.
The Los Altos City Council is considering adoption of building codes that would do this for all new construction. As a pediatrician concerned about leaving our children a healthy environment, I applaud such legislation.
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