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Berkeley City Council Votes to Move Forward With “Global Warming Alert” Caution Labels at Gas Pumps

In a first move toward getting tougher on global warming, the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday night voted to draft language to mandate the city's gas stations label their gas pumps with "Global Warming Alert" stickers, warning customers that filling up emits dangerous carbon dioxide.

The vote passed 7-2, with councilmembers Susan Wengraf and Gordon Wozniak voting no.

The city manager will now direct staff to direct write an ordinance over the next three months to detail the plan, which may be put into place by next spring. [[283061761, C]]

San Francisco is drafting a similar ordinance that the city's Board of Supervisors could vote into law by March. The proposals in both Bay Area cities are thought to be the first of their kind in the U.S. 

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Raymed Pajeck via 350BayArea.org
Draft warning label of gas pump labels warning of global warming.

Berkeley and San Francisco are well aware that they will likely be sued by the Western States Petroleum Association. The oil-industry lobbying group has already told the cities that the fuel station carbon dioxide labels "violate the First Amendment’s prohibition against compelled speech.”
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Berkeley had other critics, too. In a letter to the city council, Fred Schlachter, a Berkeley energy commissioner, wrote a letter to the council, saying that the effort was well meaning, but sort of preachy.  "There is a possibility of an adverse reaction," he wrote, "as some citizens will no doubt not like being preached to when fueling their cars." He said that Berkeley drivers may have such a negative reaction to being "lectured at the pump," they may choose to fill up elsewhere.

Over the past 25 years, Berkeley has led efforts to ban Styrofoam and convert city vehicles to operate on biodiesel. The city also moved forward with a voter-approved plan to slice greenhouse gas emissions by a third from 2000 levels by 2020. Last month, Berkeley was the first in the country to pass a law requiring a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on soda and sugary drinks.

Kristin Bender of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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