Wednesday, June 25, 2008

County eyes plan to combat climate change

Commissioners advocating for strong action on complex issue


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

County officials are mid-way through a process to develop an aggressive response to the mounting problem of climate change. And based on their comments, there's little doubt that Blaine County leaders believe the issue has serious global and local implications.

It's also clear they intend to do something to combat the problem locally.

During prepared remarks he made during the Blaine County Commission meeting in Hailey Tuesday, County Commissioner Larry Schoen spoke about the climate change issue and how the county should respond to the problem. His comments were made at the beginning of a discussion of the county's work to develop a comprehensive set of initiatives to address the issue of climate change.

"This is for the sake of our way of life and the health and welfare of our whole planet," Schoen said. "We are beginning to adopt a new economic paradigm, which accounts openly and fully for the environmental and social costs and benefits of our actions."

In recent months, the county has been analyzing its overall greenhouse gas emissions. Once complete, the data will be used as the framework to develop a plan to reduce the level of those emissions.

The county analysis is primarily looking at emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, two of the most harmful types of greenhouse gasses scientists say are contributing to the problem of climate change or global warming. The analysis is considering both the emissions county activities produce and those that the entire Blaine County community produces.

Greenhouse gas emissions are among the most significant environmental costs of human activities, Schoen said.

"Climate change is real and actually happening," he said. "If we have gotten ourselves into this mess, we have the tools and the ingenuity to get ourselves out of it."

Along with Blaine County's newly hired operations and special projects manager Char Nelson, Schoen recently attended a conference in New Mexico hosted by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). The county recently became a member of the international association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations, which have made a commitment to sustainable development.

More than 815 cities, towns, counties and their associations comprise the organization's worldwide membership.

One of the benefits of being a member of ICLEI is a five-step program the organization has developed to help local governments create their own climate protection plan, Nelson said. She said the New Mexico conference also allowed the county to coordinate with other local governments and learn from their experiences implementing similar plans.

"We were able to network with them," she said.

Possible actions county officials may take to help combat climate change could include things as small as reducing unneeded vehicle trips by county employees to considering changes to county zoning laws to promote more energy efficient construction.

This July, county officials will present the final details of the county greenhouse gas analysis. Further action will identify what percentage of reduction in local greenhouse gas emissions the county will seek.




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