Fiscal Note
No appropriation is required.
Title
Urging the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa P. Jackson, and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to fully employ and enforce the Clean Air Act to do our part to reduce carbon in our atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Madison prides itself on being a leader in the fight against climate change and for clean air by:
· Being the fifth city in the country to sign the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement;
· Implementing a three-year EPA grant, called Climate Showcase Community, which works to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the Mpower Champions Program, a program that works with businesses and the school district to reduce GHG emissions;
· Joining the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) - Local Governments for Sustainability USA and measuring our GHG emissions for both City operations and the community;
· Reducing ozone and PM2.5 pollutants through the Dane County Clean Air Coalition. Activities that reduce these air pollutants oftentimes also reduce GHG emissions;
· Developing Climate Action Plans and sustainability plans such as “Building a Green Capital City” and the soon to be approved “The Madison Sustainability Plan: Fostering Environmental, Economic and Social Resilience”;
· Purchasing 22% of our electricity through Madison Gas and Electric’s program “Green Power Tomorrow”;
· Building renewable energy systems through Madison Gas and Electric’s program “Clean Power Partners”; and
· Aggressively reducing our energy use through upgrading our buildings to reduce heating, cooling and lighting loads; and
WHEREAS, climate change is not an abstract problem for the future or one that will only affect far-distant places, but rather climate change is happening now, we are causing it, and the longer we wait to act, the more we lose and the more difficult the problem will be to solve; and
WHEREAS, the City of...
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