Send this story Print this story

Adjust text size

Council approves 'Climate Protection Plan'
Unanimous support for 15 percent greenhouse-gas reduction goal follows lengthy debate

by Becky Trout

Rejecting a proposal by Vice Mayor Larry Klein to set an even higher goal, the Palo Alto City Council voted Monday night to slash the community's greenhouse-gas emissions 15 percent by 2020.

The vote was unanimous, minus Councilwoman Dena Mossar, who left the meeting early due to illness.

The action is one of those "synergistic moments where the community and government are on the same page," Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg said.

Councilman Bern Beecham called the Climate Protection Plan, which contains the reduction goal, "the best thing we can do for the environment.

"This is a great start," Beecham said.

He was part of the five-member majority — comprised of council members Mossar, John Barton, LaDoris Cordell and Jack Morton — who voted against Klein's push for a 20 percent reduction by 2020.

Klein said international climate experts are calling climate change "much worse than they anticipated.

"We have the ability to do a lot in this area, a lot more than we've done," Klein said. "I don't think there's anything more important we face. ... I really want it to be tougher."

Councilman Peter Drekmeier, a noted environmentalist, supported the higher goals and called for negative population growth as well.

"It's controversial in a lot of ways, but unless we start talking about it we're in serious trouble," Drekmeier said.

Klein's proposal was narrowly voted down after more than an hour of debate.

"I don't think we need to set an artificially high objective when what we are going to be doing is unknown," Beecham said.

"To sit here tonight and pick a number — I don't see how we can do that responsibly," Mossar said.

The council then unanimously approved the 144-page Climate Protection Plan, which outlines goals and attempts to inventory the city's emissions.

The council also authorized $100,000 for a full cost-benefit analysis of emissions-reducing tasks.

Part of the money will be used to allow the city's commute coordinator to work additional hours, Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison said.

City residents and businesses produced about 814,300 tons of carbon dioxide in 2005, according to the plan. By 2012, the community should be generating about 40,000 fewer tons of gases, a nearly 5 percent reduction, according to the plan.

Energy Risk Manager Karl Van Orsdol said city staff members attempted to generate goals that were achievable and helpful but that "did not fly in the face of financial reality." The cost-benefit analysis should be ready by June 2008 and an update on the city's initial emission reductions will follow in July, Van Orsdol said.

Yet even the lower 15-percent goal will be a challenge and entail changes, Harrison warned the council.

"It will not be comfortable from this point forward," but if the city can achieve reductions greater than 15 percent, it will, she said.

In other business:

—In a move that aroused the ire of her colleagues, Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto attempted to postpone a vote on a proposed Environmental Commission until January, when the council will have four new members. Councilman Peter Drekmeier supported her motion.

"I know it will be brought back in January in any case. This just streamlines the process," said Kishimoto, who favors such a commission. She added that she didn't know what the vote would have been Monday.

"I think that's completely inappropriate," Councilman John Barton objected.

It sets an "extremely poor precedent," Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg agreed. It is "a violation of a compact with those of us who have spent a lot of time considering it to say, 'Well, we don't like the way you came out on it,'" she said.

Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell said she was "saddened" by the postponement attempt.

"It doesn't feel good to be a lame duck. For me, it's like putting it in your face," she said.

But Drekmeier said the need for an environmental group is great.

"We need a mechanism to engage a very talented pool of public participants. We have a lot of work to do," he said.

In October, the council's Policy and Services Committee rejected plans to create an Environmental Commission because it overlaps with other commissions, it would add expense and the city has trouble attracting volunteers for existing commissions, among other reasons. City staff had recommended the group be structured as a committee rather than a commission to avoid public-noticing requirements and allow for more flexibility.

Kishimoto, Drekmeier and Vice Mayor Larry Klein originally proposed creating an Environmental Commission in April.

Councilman Bern Beecham also left the meeting early due to illness, leaving the council without the five votes that would have been necessary to reject the measure.

Council members voted to continue the discussion until Dec. 10.

— The council also lacked the five votes necessary to pass a green-building policy for city buildings. The item was continued until Dec. 10.

— Palo Alto Green, the city's voluntary green-electricity program, surpassed its goal of reaching 20 percent of utility customers by the end of 2007, Program Manager Brian Ward told the City Council.

Now, 20.2 percent of the city's approximately 30,000 electricity customers spend about $10 extra a month to support wind and solar power, Ward said.

Nationally, most green-power programs have less than 5 percent participation, he said.

The city hopes to enroll 25 percent of its customers by the end of 2008, Ward said.

— The council voted to defer its discussion on the future of Byxbee Park and the landfill until Dec. 10.

Staff Writer Becky Trout can be e-mailed at btrout@paweekly.com.