December 21, 2020
Liane Randolph, Incoming Chair
California Air Resources Board
Dear Chair Randolph,
Congratulations on your recent appointment to chair the Air Resources Board. The Leadership Group appreciated your work as a member of the Public Utilities Commission, and looks forward to working with you in your new role.
The work of the Air Resources Board is enormously important. Reducing air pollution has been a decades-long battle in California, with a positive trend compared to the smog-filled 1960s and 70s but with more room left to improve. Ports, highly trafficked freeway corridors, and heavy industrial sites will rightfully demand your attention in this new role, as will the health and safety of the communities who live near them.
ARB is also the lead agency for California’s work on climate change, the most pressing environmental issue of our time. The Leadership Group has been a long-time supporter of many of ARB’s important policy initiatives to address climate change, including, significantly, cap and trade. We hope that finding the right suite of policies to address climate change and promote clean energy markets will be a hallmark of your chairship as it was with outgoing Chair Nichols and we hope to be a partner with you on those efforts.
The Leadership Group, and the tech sector we represent, views air pollution and climate change as problems that we must engage with and work towards solving. But beyond our commitment to address environmental harms, our member companies also make and distribute technologies to help realize a solution. From expanding zero emission vehicles and electric vehicle charging infrastructure to promoting energy efficiency. From renewable energy powering our homes and grid to expanding our capacity for storage.
These areas that the Leadership Group represents, and more, are at the ready to help you address the challenge of our lifetime in climate change. We offer expertise, our resources and our partnership as you begin your new role. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us where we can help with the important work you have ahead.
Best regards,
Tim McRae
Vice President, Energy and Environment