NEWS FROM THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE W. V.
EVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL OF SEPTEMBER 29 & 30.
Bill McGlinchey was there for much of
Saturday and gave a fine presentation on alternative fuel vehicles.
Coincidentally, we learned that the Governor, in an address to the Southeast
Governor's Association this weekend, was to announce a comprehensive energy
proposal. It had been drafted by Allan Tweddle, long associated with the
WVEC and I think maybe on the WVIGCCC Steering Committee early on. In it
the Governor was to declare that WV has a
goal of becoming independent of "foreign oil" in year 2020 (I think that was the
date) and a mechanism was by re-birthing the Public Energy Authority which, in
fact, has the authority to go into the energy business
itself. Allan is one of the 7 members, including 4 citizen
members. Anyway, there was a lot of excitement about this even though we
know that Manchin has coal at heart.
The council adopted a "renewable energy campaign"
as one of its legislative priorities last year. Among the
legislative/administrative implementation steps this year
are:
1. Restoring the tax credit
for hybrid vehicles.
2. Adopting more stringent
fleet standards for state-owned vehicles. (It was noted that fewer cars
are being purchased, more leased but there can be fuel efficiency conditions in
the leases.)
3. Financial incentives for a)
installation of energy-efficient technology for homes, businesses, etc.
probably in the form of tax benefits, and b) training and certifying
installers of energy-efficient technology (This could be via $$ to unions for
workforce development to bring them on board and to increase
jobs.)
4. Requiring all rules proposed
by DEP to include a public health assessment. (Not really directly on our
"screen" but if greenhouse gases were regulated, they would fall under this as
well.) A bill was introduced last year with 11 sponsors; this will be
long in coming but is being stimulated by efforts to at least get a study on the
health impacts of air-borne mercury which is supported by the Nurses Ass'n. and
others.
The other "good news" was that there has
already been a first step to Morgantown becoming a "cool city" in that the
Mayor has signed a "proclamation" calling on mayors to sign on to the U.N.'s
"Urban Environmental Accords" and to implement them. It says "We
commit...to build an ecologically sustainable, economically dynamic, and
socially equitable future for our urban citizens;...."
The WVU Student Sierra Club has the "cool
cities" designation as a priority and Council-member Don Spencer gave a
presentation about how to go about getting the council to go the next
steps. He pointed out that, although we would love to have the
"environmental good" as their motivation, we will get response easier if we
emphasize financial aspects, i.e., cost-savings. Such savings are already
being realized by cities among the 300+ that have signed on to the U.S. Mayors
Climate Protection Agreement. Spencer was given our contact list and asked
to be included on it.
Speaking of savings, Bill urged those present to
approach their Boards of Education to switch to bio-diesel fuel which takes no
conversion of the diesel buses and gives them a higher reimbursement for
transportation costs from the State BOE. Mon County has come out $70,000
ahead in their 3rd year of being on bio-diesel.
I have joined the WVEC as an individual member and
will recommend our group join as it is fundamentally a coalition of
organizations. I believe we can work with them as they have lobbyist(s)
during the sessions and who work year-round. The Sierra Club is a good
opportunity to connect with young people and to support them so they will assume
their leadership roles as we fade into the sunset! or just get
tired!
The other neat thing was that Nate Webster's
brother, Dan, and his friend Ryan came from their college on Saturday
afternoon. There were students from WVU and Shepherdstown who contributed
a lot to the meeting.
The next regular monthly meeting of the WV
Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaign will be Tuesday, October 12, at 7 p.m.
at St. Paul's Lutheran Church on Patteson Drive across from
Hardy's.
Mary Rehmann, Interfaith Global Climate Change
Campaign
[THANK YOU, MARY, FOR SHARING THIS SUMMARY. THE MON VALLEY
CLEAN AIR COALITION IS A MEMBER ORGANIZATION OF THE WV ENVIRONMENTAL
COUNCIL.]