[GBlist] Seattle and Global Change

["Bion D. Howard" <bdhoward@ix.netcom.com>]

This move can be replicated at all levels of government.
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Seattle Announces Aggressive Policies to
Combat Global Warming; Mayor,
Councilmembers Critical of Federal
Inaction 

July 24, 2001 
          
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2001 via
NewsEdge Corporation - 

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell and four members of
the City Council today announced support for
the Kyoto Protocol and called on other local
governments to adopt policies to combat global
warming. 

The City Council was scheduled later in the day
to vote on resolutions supporting the goals of
the Kyoto Protocol and committing Seattle City
Light -- the city's public electric utility -- to a
policy of zero net greenhouse gas emissions. 

"Every city and every individual can take steps
to reduce global warming," Schell said. "Cities are
where most emissions occur -- and where the
solutions must begin. We can't afford to wait for
the federal government to do this." 

City Councilmembers Heidi Wills, Margaret
Pageler, Jim Compton and Richard Conlin joined
Mayor Schell for the announcement. 

One of the City Council resolutions adopts the
Kyoto goal of a 7 percent reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions. But Seattle thinks it
can do better, perhaps even tripling that
reduction by 2010. The city will calculate the
total greenhouse gas emissions produced by city
operations before determining a more specific
reduction goal. 

The other resolution formalizes Seattle City
Light's commitment to become the first major
utility in the country to achieve zero net
greenhouse-gas emissions. City Light has already
sold its share of a coal-fired steam plant and will
fully mitigate emissions from its remaining
fossil-fuel resources -- 600,000 metric tons of
carbon dioxide each year. In addition, over the
next decade, the utility will produce 100 average
megawatts of power through energy efficiency
and conservation and acquire another 100
average megawatts of non-hydro renewable
energy. 

Examples of greenhouse gas mitigation include:
improving the energy efficiency of processes
that produce CO2; substituting waste material
for raw material in industrial processes to reduce
energy use; preserving forests or planting trees,
which absorb CO2; implementing transportation
programs that reduce vehicle trips; and building
facilities that can turn waste heat into power
generation. 

"Our actions are ambitious but realistic," said
City Councilmember Heidi Wills, chair of the
council's Energy and Environmental Policy
Committee. "We believe we can triple the
reductions called for in the Kyoto Protocol and
demonstrate to other cities what the possibilities
are." 

Schell and the City Councilmembers disputed the
notion that significantly reducing greenhouse gas
emissions is too costly, stressing instead the
economic benefits of such actions. In the Pacific
Northwest, for example, climate change
threatens the cycle of coastal rain and mountain
snowpack -- the very foundation of the region's
hydroelectric system and forest-, fish- and
recreation-based economy. 

City officials made these points about the
economic benefits of Seattle's
anti-global-warming policies: 

-- City Light's commitment to renewable
resources and energy 
efficiency is a good business decision, providing
enough power 
to meet the utility's total projected load growth
over the 
next 10 years. Conservation is among the least
expensive 
sources of power, and renewable resources
expand City Light's 
energy portfolio and reduce the need for
wholesale market power. 

-- The fact that City Light's energy is free of
greenhouse gases 
is attractive to many businesses. Being "green"
gives certain 
businesses an advantage in the marketplace.
Representatives of 
climate-neutral businesses joined city officials in
support of the resolutions. 

-- Some of the money available for greenhouse
gas mitigation 

projects will go into the local economy.
Alternative 
transportation programs, partnerships with
businesses seeking 
to become climate neutral, and development of
energy-efficient 
technologies are examples of potential local
projects. 

-- The cost of not acting could be extraordinarily
high. At its 
current pace, global warming will reduce the
region's snowpack 
by 50 percent over the next 50 years,
threatening drinking 
water, irrigation and hydroelectric supplies. 

The stakes are too high, the mayor and
Councilmembers concluded, to sit and wait while
national and international debate grinds on. They
appealed to other municipalities to join Seattle's
initiative. 

CONTACT: Mayor's Office | Dick Lilly,
206/684-8865 | or | City Light | Dan Williams,
206/615-0978

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