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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesMINUTES ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT ADVISORY BOARD Apri16, 2009 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Barney, Bob Breest, Margy Davey, Ron Hardy, Justin Mitchell, Bob Poeschl, Jan Scalpone, Dani Stolley EXCUSED: none ABSENT: Jessica King STAFF: Susan Kepplinger, Catherine Neiswender CALL TO ORDER Chair Ron Hardy called the meeting to order and a quorum was declared present. APPROVE MARCH MINUTES Jan Scalpone moved approval of the minutes with the clarification that the web site discussion be clarified to note that a link should be made between the E and E site and the City web page with the list of members of City Boards. Justin Mitchell seconded the motion which passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT Todd Sohr provided some information on the former WPS site and remediation and indicated that interested Board members could contact him for more information. Donn Lord discussed lead paint hazards and energy efficiency and provided information on proposed legislation that would provide financial assistance to property owners with replacement windows. EPA PUBLIC MEETINGS RE FOX RIVER City Attorney Lynn Lorenson presented information on the sale agreement between the City and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) for the former coal gasification plant site. Under that agreement, WPS is the sole point of contact with the EPA on environmental issues. Attorney Lorenson indicated that agreement is binding on the E and E Board and any contact between any member of the E and E Board and the EPA regarding the site could constitute a breach or lead to a breach of that contract. WATER TESTING MENOMINEE PARK BEACH This item was moved to accommodate a speaker. Justin Mitchell introduced this item as he had initiated action on this through a letter he sent to City Manager Mark Rohloff. Dr. Colleen McDermott, a professor at UWO and who is involved with the environmental biology lab provided information on water quality testing. Dr. McDermott stated that the University had done water quality monitoring at Menominee Beach in 2003 and also monitors water quality at a variety of beaches on Lake Michigan and on inland lakes. At the request of the City Manager, Dr. McDermott reported the University has agreed to do one free water test weekly during this swimming season. If a given test shows an unacceptable level of bacteria, the beach will be posted and additional tests will be taken until the beach is safe for swimming. Jan Scalpone inquired about the reliability of the test. Dr. McDermott indicated the test was reliable but that water conditions can change rapidly. Justin Mitchell inquired regarding testing for toxins in green algae and Dr. McDermott indicated that it was possible to do that. ANNOUNCE WORKING GROUPS Chair Ron Hardy distributed a handout identifying members of each of the Working Groups (copy attached). PROTOCOLS FOR UPDATING WEBSITE Ron Hardy distributed a proposed protocol Justin Mitchell developed for updating the website. Following discussion, Jan Scalpone moved approval of the protocol as proposed. Margy Davey seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. GREENHOUSE GAS UPDATE Jon Urben was unable to attend. Ron Hardy shared information provided by Jon Urben. GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORY RESOLUTION Steve Barney presented a resolution he had drafted encouraging the Common Council to include development of a community-wide greenhouse gas inventory as one of the goals for the City Manager. Following discussion, Margy moved that the final `Be it Resolved" statements be deleted. Bob Poeschl seconded the motion, which passed 7-1 (Barney). Jan Scalpone moved the resolution as amended. The amended resolution passed 5-3 (Justin Mitchell, Dani Stolley and Bob Breest). ORDINANCE CHANGE This item will be acted on by the Common Council April 14. SUSTAINABILITY PLAN The Board was updated on the activities of the Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee. WATER TESTING IN MILLERS BAY Jan Scalpone reported that she had discussed this with Parks Director, Tom Stephany. She asked if there was an established protocol for when one City Board of Commission is taking a position on what another Board or Commission is doing and how does the Board interact with other Boards and Commissions. Following discussion, Justin Mitchell moved that the Board advise the Parks Board that the Energy and Environment Board recommended adoption of a weed control plan that reduces or eliminates the introduction of chemical herbicides into Lake Winnebago. Jan Scalpone expressed concern that the Board was taking a position and yet had not adopted the four principles of the Natural Step. Following discussion the Board unanimously approved the proposed motion. Jan Scalpone repeated her request that the Board adopt the four principles of the Natural Step and also develop a protocol for relating to other City Boards and Commissions. ADJOURN There being no further business, Bob Poeschl moved the meeting be adjourned. Margy Davey seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Susan Kepplinger Principal Planner Energy and Environment Advisory Board Resolution: Greenhouse Gas Inventory -passed 5-3, as amended, April 6, 2009 WHEREAS, according to the minutes of the July 15, 2008 meeting of the Community, Education and Outreach Subcommittee of the Energy and Environment Advisory Board: "Steve reminded us of the importance of a community GHG emissions inventory, since about 95% of emissions are created in the community sector, and 5% by the municipality. It is his understanding that the municipal subcommittee assumed any GHG emissions inventory would include the community. Motion made by Jan and seconded by Justin to have an intern include all community GHG emissions, in addition to local government emissions, as part of a GHG emissions inventory for Oshkosh. Approved 4-0." WHEREAS, the City Manager's draft "2009 Goals for City Manager," which were released to the press a few weeks ago, include the following goals: 7. Work with E & E Board to develop City-wide Sustainability Plan a. Conduct greenhouse gas emissions inventory of city facilities b. Support E & E Board as needed WHEREAS, on September 11, 2007, Oshkosh Common Council passed resolution 07-262, which approved the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (MCPA). That resolution "authorized and directed" the "proper City officials" to sign that Agreement." Subsequently, the MCPA was signed by former City Manager Wollangk and Mayor Frank Tower. By doing so, the City of Oshkosh has been directed to strive to reduce its GHG emissions by "7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012" (MCPA, paragraph A). MCPA paragraph C.1 makes it clear that this GHG reduction goal applies to the entire community within the jurisdiction of the City of Oshkosh, and is not limited to city owned or operated facilities: C. We will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution by taking actions in our own operations and communities such as: 1. Inventory global warming emissions in City operations and in the community, set reduction targets and create an action plan. --"US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement" WHEREAS, on August 26, 2008 the Oshkosh Common Council unanimously passed resolution 08-295, which includes the following language in the last whereas clause and the first resolved clause: "WHEREAS, ICLEI has established five milestones to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions throughout communities as listed below: Conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and forecast to determine the source and quantity of greenhouse gas emissions in the jurisdiction" ... "NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Oshkosh will pursue initiatives consistent with ICLEI's five milestones to reduce both greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions throughout the community." WHEREAS, according to statements by General Services Director Jon Urben to the Energy and Environment Advisory Board, in its meeting of March 2, 2009, he began to conduct a GHG emissions inventory in February with the assistance of two student interns from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, but that inventory will be limited to emissions from city owned or operated facilities. He told us that he has not been directed to inventory any community sources of emissions within the jurisdiction of the City of Oshkosh that are not owned or operated by the municipal government of the City of Oshkosh, and that the City has no plans to inventory those community sources of emissions. WHEREAS, according to an email from Jon Urben to Board member Steve Barney, his inventory of the City's GHG emissions: "will include city facilities, fleet, streetlights, water/sewer and other." WHEREAS, regarding Milestone 1 (the GHG inventory), ICLEI's "Cities for Climate Protection Milestone Guide" states: "The CCP [Cities for Climate Protection] Campaign methodology follows a set of Milestones designed to assist your jurisdiction in reducing its contribution to global warming. Milestone 1) Conduct a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis: Baseline Inventory and Forecast Similar to an energy audit before retrofitting a building, the emissions analysis lets you know what activities in your community are causing GHG emissions and the quantity each of these activities is contributing, both now and in the future. In performing the emissions baseline and forecast, you will gain some of the information you'll need for choosing strategic actions and designing an effective GHG reduction plan. The baseline emissions inventory consists of two separate analyses -one evaluating activities in the residential, commercial, industrial, transportation, and waste sectors in your community, and the other focused on local government buildings, fleet vehicles, and operations. This baseline identifies how many tons of GHG emissions come from each of these sectors. Don't worry, Expertise in climate science is not necessary. On the contrary, the inventory relies on relatively accessible data such as community-wide aggregate quantities of electricity and fuel use, garbage taken to landfill, and vehicle miles traveled." ... [pg 14] "The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis ... The full analysis consists of a baseline inventory and a target year forecast of GHG emissions from community-wide sources (i.e., the full geographic area of your local government's jurisdiction) and a baseline inventory and forecast completed highlighting emissions resulting from local government facilities and operations." ... [pg 25] "Community-Scale Inventory The community-scale inventory estimates the quantity of GHG emissions for which the community as a whole is responsible for a specific baseline year. The community inventory is organized by sector-residential, commercial, industrial, transportation, and waste. When completed, the community inventory will show how much electricity and fuel were used in residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors, and how much waste was produced and landfilled in a chosen base year, as well as the quantity of GHG emissions produced by each of these sectors. The data needed is typically available from electric and gas utilities, planning and transportation agencies and solid waste management departments. Each local community has unique characteristics (e.g., population, housing types, trans- portation networks, industries, electricity fuel mix) that make its baseline different from other cities or counties. The primary value of an emissions inventory is to enable the demonstration of progress over time." [pg 26] WHEREAS, regarding the GHG inventory software being used by the City of Oshkosh, ICLEI's "Cities for Climate Protection Milestone Guide" states (pg 16): "The Clean Air and Climate Protection (CACP) Software is auser-friendly, Windows-based application that translates data on community-wide and municipal operations energy use and solid waste into greenhouse gas and criteria air pollutant emissions. It greatly simplifies the process of performing the emissions analysis, and it is a great planning tool to calculate the energy, financial, greenhouse gas and air pollutant savings resulting from measures you are considering for your action plan. WHEREAS, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for City owned or operated facilities probably make up only 5%, or so, of the GHG emissions from the whole community within the City's jurisdiction. WHEREAS, the GHG emissions inventory of city facilities is expected to be completed by the end of this UWO semester (Spring 2009), which ends in mid May, which means that the City would have the remainder of the year (more than 6 months) in which to inventory all the community sources of emissions within its jurisdiction. WHEREAS, the Department of Community Development recently created the "Community sustainability Plan Steering Committee" to help "coordinate" the planning process for the creation of a community-wide sustainability plan, which is supposed to be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan. WHEREAS, a complete inventory of all of the GHG emissions within the jurisdiction of the City of Oshkosh is critical to the legitimacy and verifiability of the forthcoming sustainability plan, and the policies that come out of it. WHEREAS, the purpose of a GHG inventory is to measure the City's progress over time, and a GHG inventory is one of the most important and quantifiable long term measures of sustainability. WHEREAS, it is important for the City government to accept its responsibility for all the emissions within the City's jurisdiction, since the overall goal is to do all we can to mitigate global climate change, and it would be irresponsible for the City of Oshkosh to ignore 95% of the GHG emissions within its jurisdiction. WHEREAS, though it may be reasonable to prioritize the city's GHG inventory so as to first inventory the emissions from city owned or operated facilities, and then inventory the emissions from all of the other sources within the city's jurisdiction, it is not reasonable to limit the inventory to city owned and operated facilities and ignore about 95% of the City's total GHG emissions. BE IT RESOLVED, the Energy and Environment Advisory Board recommends that the City of Oshkosh complete a greenhouse gas emissions inventory of the whole community within the jurisdiction of the City of Oshkosh, as well as the emissions from city owned or operated facilities. BE IT RESOLVED, copies of this resolution shall be forwarded to City Manager Mark Rohloff, Mayor Frank Tower, and members of the Oshkosh Common Council.