Dear Governor and Air Pollution Control Board,

Please do not withdraw from the RGGI.  It is time to forget about politics and do what is right for once.  Not only for our generation, but for our children's and grandchildren's generations.  The ongoing politics of climate change has cause confusion and gridlock in making any progress to reducing the risks to our region and our planet.  There is ample international consensus, by experts in climate and other qualified scientists, to far outweigh any minor disagreements from those with little or no experience in the climate field.  Quite frankly, we are sick of this!  Your decisions just set us back as a state, removing any rights to influence the RGGI objectives and priorities, as a country, which is trying to act as a leader in this universally-important effort, and internationally, as a laughingstock compared to practically every other country on Earth.

To think that the Air Pollution Control Board would even consider withdrawal from RGGI and effectively abrogate any leadership role in protecting our air and our planet, is inconceivable.  Do the governor and the Board want to sacrifice any long-term achievements in protecting our region and our area in favor of short-term political points?  If you want to send a message, then stay in the RGGI and start to dictate other planet-saving objectives, such as increasing green energy including nuclear energy, working to protect our coastlines from increasing water levels, and working on economic- and technology-based approaches to reduce CO2/CH4 and other emissions causing harm to our area.

Realize that, based on polls, most Americans and certainly most Virginians realize we must act on climate change and not stick our head in the sand and do NOTHING!  This is irresponsible leadership and I for one, will not vote again for any irresponsible leaders.

Governor, you have said you represent all Virginians.  Your actions, however, do not support this promise.  Our leaders need to think about the planet, our generations' future, and what is the right thing to do.  Withdrawing from RGGI is exactly the WRONG THING TO DO.  Please consider keeping Virginia in the RGGI.  Save us the trouble of voting out Republicans who act out of maliciousness and not responsible stewardship of the planet.  After a Democrat is elected at the end of your term, they will just readmit the state back into this important initiative.

Thank you for considering these comments.

Steve Gomberg, Arlington