By Alan Pryor –
The two main items on the agenda were an informational report from staff to the NRC advising of the timelines for the 2010 City of Davis Environmental Recognition Awards and a staff presentation on the current status of the city’s Climate Action Plan.
The nomination period for the 2010 awards will be between January 11 and March 12, 2010 and application forms will be available on the City’s website at that time. Public notification of the process will be made through mass mailings, press releases, and Cable TV and web site announcements. Nominees
Draft Climate Action Plan
Staff Update
Mitch Sears, the staff Sustainability Programs Manager, then presented the revised current draft of the City Climate Action Plan to the Commission for comments.
The current draft included new action items to establish a baseline energy usage for water production and processing and to participate in potential carbon-offsets markets. It also identified key actions within each section of the plan for which estimates of associated greenhouse gas reduction potentials were provided. Also based on requests from NRC commissioners during the prior month’s meeting in which an earlier draft of the Climate Action Plan was discussed, Mr. Sears indicated that additional detail will be included in the introduction on the need for the Plan and Davis’ role in being an early adopter. Additional detail will also be provided in upcoming revisions to the Plan to specify greenhouse gas emissions if a “business-as-usual” approach were pursued with no efforts to reduce emissions.
Based on comments at the wrap-up meeting of the Climate Action Team on October 29th, staff has included a new section in the current draft addressing the community’s role in advocating change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Commission Discussion
Commissioner Herman Boschken suggested that the Climate Action Team or similar permanent standing panel be institutionalized in the City to ensure appropriate follow-up in the future. Mr. Sears suggested that would be appropriate particularly with respect to the 2nd phase of the Climate Action Plan. He noted that the current version of the plan focuses most heavily on Phase 1 actions which address those aspects in which substantive near-term reduction of greenhouse gases could occur with little capital expense or a very good return on investment – i.e. the low hanging fruit. Phase II of the Plan are those aspects of greenhouse gas reduction that require substantial resources and are not expected to be realized during the first 5 years of Phase 1 of the plan.
Commissioner Kandel suggested that the NRC evaluate progress on an annual basis rather than after 2 years and 5 years as suggested in the current version of the Plan. Mitch Sears said he would be amenable to such a review strategy if approved by Council.
Public Comments
It was noted that Commissioner Dean Newberry recommended at last month’s NRC meeting that the priorities for each element of the plan should be made and discussed in terms of immediately-available energy savings that might result. Mitch Sears said that, to the extent that time allows, he would attempt to include such a prioritization in upcoming drafts.
A public comment was made, reiterating last month’s comment, suggesting that identifiable benchmarks, deadlines, and/or projected timetables be established for each element of the plan as necessary to properly and quantitatively evaluate the progress made toward achieving each actionable item in the Climate Action Plan. Mitch Sears said he would also attempt to include such a series of measurable objectives if time allowed before approval of the final plan.
Staff Actions
Mitch Sears indicated that he would evaluate the suggestions and comments and incorporate as many as possible in the next draft. The revised Plan will be submitted to Council for comments in December and then the final version of the Plan will be submitted back to the NRC and then to the Council for approval in early 2010.
Long Term Calendar
Chairperson Jennifer Holman noted that San Jose, as well as many other government entities in the US and around the world, had recently implemented a partial ban on plastic bags and requested, as per the prior month’s meeting, that the issue of restricting plastic bags use and/or availability be placed on the NRC’s long-range calendar and agendized. Although the other Commissioners agreed with this suggestion, no formal action was taken as the City staff liason to the NRC, Sue Gedestad, was not present. A discussion of whether to place the issue of containerized green waste on the NRC’s long range calendar followed. Commissioner Adrienne Kandel said the issue was previously very polarizing in the community and she recommended that it not be revisited by the NRC as there was state action possibly pending on the matter. No further action was taken on this issue by the NRC and the meeting adjourned.
