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Council considers 26 ways to go green
posted 10/03/2007
San Juan County Council discussed a list of 26 ways to reduce the county’s energy use and "carbon footprint" in
response to global warming." Switching deputies from patrol cars to bicycles when patrolling Friday Harbor; mandating curbside pickup of garbage if a study shows emissions from vehicles would be less, instituting a county vehicle emissions program, purchasing more items locally were some of the items in the report.
Councilmembers Alan Lichter and Kevin Ranker worked together to develop the proposal which
would formally pledge that San Juan County will take steps to reduce its contribution to the
causes of global warming. Lichter opened the discussion by quoting a recent article from
National Geographic Magazine which concluded that, "The scientific evidence [concerning
global warming] is clear" and that human activity is the main cause of the current global rise in
temperature.
Lichter and Ranker’s draft proposal enumerated twenty-six actions each of which could
potentially reduce the county’s use of petroleum and fossil fuels and products.
The twenty-six actions are listed below.
The full text of the proposal is available at: www.co.san-juan.wa.us/news/ DraftSJCClimateChangeRes2.pdf
"I don’t know if this will make such a significant difference globally,” said Lichter, “but
it may make a difference here. It may bring us closer together as part of a community and the
community of mankind."
Kevin Ranker added, "This is not some radical thing . . . more than 500 cities and
hundreds of counties have already adopted similar goals."
Councilman Rich Peterson said he had agreed with the proposals for reducing energy use
and carbon emissions, but said he could not support the resolution with the "whereas" recital
clauses in the draft resolution that form the basis for the proposed actions. They blamed the bulk
of global warming on human activity and referred to "documented increases in sea level" and
projected a 40% reduction in arctic ice cover.
He said he’d recently talked to a scientist at Cal Tech who told him that the degree to
which human activity is to blame for global warming is still being debated at that University.
Ranker said he understood Peterson’s concern, "Sometimes it seems like everyone has a
scientist.”"He suggested and Peterson agreed, that the resolution could win unanimous support
without the "whereas" clauses.
Aside from the whereas clauses, some of the items most likely to attract public attention
call for the County to:
-
Studying the feasibility and energy use impact of curbside trash/recycling
collection.
- Adopt a goal of switching the entire county fleet of diesel vehicles to
biodiesel fuel by 2010.
- Investigate a county vehicle emission inspections program similar to the
programs in other Washington counties.
Councilman Gene Knapp, said he supported most of the proposal, but had reservations
about anything which might require additional county employees to enforce. In particular he
would oppose a legal requirement to recycle, implementing additional building regulations, and
expending time and effort promoting solar and other alternative energy sources.
"We have a whole lot of [other] issues that we need find time to deal with," he said.
The council heard testimony supporting the climate change resolution from
representatives of the San Juan Islands Conservation District, Friends of the San Juans and
private citizens.
Councilman Ranker said he will revise the proposed resolution, incorporating the input
from the rest of the Council. He and Councilman Lichter will bring the proposal back for further
discussion at a future date..
The twenty-six actions:
The San Juan County Council will serve as a model for the
community by taking the following actions:
- Switch to compact fluorescent, full spectrum compact
fluorescent, and LED light bulbs in county government
offices;
- Instruct county staff to turn off all lights, computers,
heating and air conditioning when not in use;
- Reduce air travel for county business trips;
- Continue to make composting bins available to county
residents at wholesale prices;
- Set up a county web site on climate change that allows
input and exchange of people’s ideas on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and serves as an information
resource;
- Conform to the U.S. Green Building Council’s
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
certification in all future county government
buildings/remodels;
- Set up a citizens’ action work group under the Smart
Growth initiative umbrella to address global warming
solutions;
- Use biodiesel in county government diesel vehicles, as it
becomes practical, with the goal of using B20 biodiesel in all
county diesel vehicles by 2010;
- Begin the switch to hybrid vehicles, when appropriate, in
new county fleet purchases and continue the transition to
more fuel efficient county vehicles;
- Provide more trails and bikeways for walking and
bikingprovide
more bicycle parking throughout the
countymore
striped bike lanesimprove
and expand
pedestrian crossingskeep
up with road repair;
- Investigate and promote the use of alternative energy
sources, e.g., wind and solar power;
- Start a bikeloaner program for citizens and ask county
departments to use bikes where possible, e.g., Sheriff's
deputies patrolling Friday Harbor, some Public Works
staff, employees who can bike between home and work;
- Adopt a green building code, with incentives, for San
Juan County;
- Require all county departments to buy recycled
products, when possible, including paper products that use
at least 30% recycled content;
- Plant more trees throughout San Juan County,
particularly where they can provide shading and canopiesand
thus sequester carbon dioxide;
- Encourage and support minibus
and minivan
service
throughout San Juan County, as well as the use of the
sjRIDESHARE program;
- Create an inventory of both county government
operational and county geographical greenhouse gas
emissions. Set a target of greenhouse gas emissions
reductions to a range of 80% below current levels by 2050
(“Climate Stabilization”), and encourage other counties to
execute the same or undertake a similar commitment;
- Reduce San Juan County government contractual
arrangements, whenever possible, with entities know to be
major emitters of greenhouse gases;
- Require solid waste facilities countywide to handle and
provide for full recycling, composting, and reuse centers;
- Institute mandatory recycling of all recyclable products
in all county buildings and facilities;
- Negotiate with San Juan Sanitation the ability to have
countywide curbside recycling;
- Perform a comparative study of vehicle emissions,
comparing the emissions of trips to solid waste facilities by
the public to the emissions of garbage trucks doing curbside
pickup
of solid waste;
- Investigate a county vehicle emission inspections
program similar to the programs of other Washington
counties;
- Purchase non-styrofoam
containers for all county
facilities;
- Do everything possible to reduce commerce-related
long distance
travel, e.g., by encouraging all county
departments to buy as locally as possible food
products,
merchandise, etc.;
-
Work with Washington State Ferries to encourage
increased pedestrian and bicycle traffic on ferries coming to
the islands, and ask the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau to
encourage tourists to reduce their use of cars in the San
Juan Islands.
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