There are only benefits from this kind of work.. The council voted 10-1 to adopt the Climate Action and Adaptation. Climate change is a global problem, but cities especially large cities like San Antonio must be a significant part of the solution. San Antonio energy giant Valero Energy Corp. is not onboard with the city's plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Climate plan puts San Antonio on A-list - The Business Journals The CAAP identifies 15 strategies and 68 actions grouped by eight focus areas shown in the table below. San Antonio climate action plan: Time for the public to weigh in The Technical & Community Advisory Committee is comprised of 24 Members total; 17 at-large members, 5 organizational members,1 research collaborator from Southwest Research Institute, and 1 Chair or Vice Chair of the SA Climate Ready Climate Equity Committee. The SA Climate Ready Climate Action & Adaptation Plan requires the Office of Sustainability to complete a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory every two years. The citys staff will work with the Alamo Area Council Of Governments the regions major planning agency that consists of a voluntary association of cities, counties and special districts in the south-central region to refresh San Antonios climate plan, Coyle said. Additionally, dozens of local organizations have come out in support of San Antonio climate justice, including among their demands a resolution committing San Antonio to adopt, honor, and uphold the the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement, funding and development of a community-led Climate Action Plan that works with our residents, advancing their interestsparticularly those at most threat from rising temperatures and extreme weatherand rapidly putting our city on a path to 100-percent renewable power. Texas burns far more gas than any other state, 14.9% of the US total. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). There hasnt been a city necessarily that has banned natural gas yet, but we have whispers from the Austin city council, the city of Houston, even smaller cities, said Jeff Carlson, the chief of staff for Representative Cody Harris, who introduced one of the bills. -30-. Change is inevitable. SA Climate Ready is San Antonio's plan to meet the present and future challenges of a changing climate, building on actions already enacted for a low-carbon future. How much could it cost and where will the money come from? The proposal, an existential threat to the gas industry, quickly caught the attention of Texas Gas Service. The Deely plant has since been retired. Over the course of the year, legislation preserving energy choice for customers passed in Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee, Harbert said. Campus Police (909 . Gas power plants dominate the Texas grid, providing 47% of the states electricity. The city, however, is revisiting the plan after a backlash to the industry-secured changes. When you talk to people, they dont want natural gas as a middle man to a sustainable future they want solar panels to be affordable for them, said Gomez. Thats the job of the entire community over the next three decades, he said. The plan. San Antonio climate action plan: Time for the public to weigh in, State fines police union for 2021 campaign finance violation. Making your Climate Action Plan, GHG inventories and Progress Reports publicly availableStandards for Successful Implementation, Professional & Organizational Development, Classified Professional Development Committee (CPDC), Faculty Professional Development Committee (FPDC), Management Professional Development Committee (MPDC), Management Professional Development Reimbursement, Petition for Professional Growth Increment Form, Unused Management Conference and Travel Funds Transfer Form, Importance of Sustainability in Higher Education, The Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments. Watch the replay of the 2021 Climate Action Plan launch event. I dont think it means we dont take action until we have all the information.. San Antonio's Climate Action & Adaptation Plan works to "deepen and accelerate efforts to tackle climate change and promote a sustainable future for their residents" according to the City of . In Texas, they could have a significant impact. Most outstanding, from my personal perspective, is the failure of our Council to set a solid, definitive carbon-reduction target to guide the plans development. The plans addresses costs in broad brushstrokes, using dollar signs: One represents less than $100 million in investment through 2030, two represent $100 million to $1 billion over the same time period, and three signify more than $1 billion in investment through 2030. Baumer later emailed Graham that his company was kind of crashing a party when it attended meeting after meeting. With a degree in Mass Communication Broadcast Media, Dallas brings a unique perspective and a passion to producing a live, call-talk show. San Antonios unified development code, which the city is updating, is among the items Cantus committee is focused on. Learn more about SA Climate Ready - Espaol(PDF). Environmentalists, generally unhappy with the draft, will likely work in the coming weeks to insert more immediate and stronger methods of cutting emissions. CPS Energy's coal-fired power plants J.K. Please email. San Antonio passes climate action plan - The Business Journals Flooding, drought, and extreme heat are making life in San Antonio more difficult and more expensive for everyone, especially those on fixed and low incomes. We have our share of brags in San Antonio when it comes to the transition to renewable energy sources; 13 percent renewable energy is nothing to sneeze at. The development of this data-driven, people-focused plan brought together City departments, residents, community-based organizations, and businesses to collaborate on creating solutions. Texas Gas, when asked for comment, said it was invited to participate in the revisions to the Austin Climate Equity Plan and [has] remained an engaged partner ever since. We are increasingly active in the States, the associations president, Karen Harbert, said in a November letter to members explaining how the organization spent membership dues in 2020. The San Antonio City Council adopted a climate action and adaptation plan in October 2019 that sought to put the city on a path to carbon neutrality by 2050, a major goal outlined in the Paris . Baugh has previously written about public housing, county government and transportation for the Express-News. I think the thing thats most exciting, no matter how challenging it seems right now, is Ive never seen more conversation about this issue in San Antonio in the five years Ive been here.. 1100 N. Grand Ave., Walnut, CA 91789. ReportforAmerica.org. To that end, Adelita Cantu, vice chairwoman of the Climate Equity Advisory Committee and a professor at UT Health San Antonio, said all plans must be evaluated for how well they meet that objective. San Antonio City Council adopts climate change plan SAN ANTONIO - The San Antonio City Council voted 10 - 1 Thursday in favor of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP).. While our city desperately needs a path to net-zero carbon emissions, CPS Energy has failed to update its decade-old renewable target of 20 percent by 2020. If were going to have long-term economic development, quality of life and economic health, were going to have to adapt to it.. Efforts to refocus attention on the CAAP come as the Environmental Protection Agency considers whether to downgrade Bexar Countys level of nonattainment a term that reflects the area exceeding the EPAs limit for ozone concentration. CPS did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. 2023 SF Environment. But we must remember that we are in no way in the vanguard among U.S. cities. No ordinances or policies to further the plans goals have been adopted, and officials involved in the CAAP are just now making more tangible moves related to the citys pending 2022 bond election, climate equity and greenhouse gas emissions. What happens if the plan isn't approved? Adoption of an updated, comprehensive Master Plan . San Antonio Climate Action And Adaptation Plan: Round 2 | TPR One of the Deely coal-fired CPS Energy power plant's turbines is seen Dec. 31, 2018, on the last day of operations for the 1970s-era facility. CAAP 2022 is the successor to Climate Action Plan (CAP), 2013, which targeted a 15 percent reduction in carbon emission by the year 2020 using 2005 as baseline. Meredith Sheffer | SABJ, Getty Images Order Reprints By Jessica Corso - Reporter, San Antonio Business Journal. Climate Action Plan - Mt. San Antonio College On May, 20, 2015, the lake was 10.7 percent full. The City of San Antonio aims to be carbon neutral by 2050 and the CAAP identifies mitigation strategies intended to advance that goal, inclusive of adaptive ecosystem restoration and social equity strategies. Where we are today, its possible we can get there tackling our transportation and energy generation processes, he said. CPS Energy has ramped up its use of solar power to replace coal. For Melnick, the CAAPs goals go beyond reducing emissions; its also about ensuring that the entire community benefits from its initiatives and is prepared for whats coming. It comes from an allocated portion of the money the city receives every year from CPS Energy, and is earmarked specifically for green initiatives. "The Source" is a live call-in program airing Mondays through Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. Leave a message before the program at (210) 615-8982. Since then, the intensifying impacts of a changing climate have been irrefutable: increasing heat waves, worsening drought, and regional wildfires that blanket the city in smoke are becoming more commonplace. PDF SA CLIMATE READY - San Antonio Express-News As committees were meeting in 2018, CPS Energy leaders announced they had already developed their own plan for the coming decades, called the Flexible Path. The City of San Antonio plans to utilize $1 million it is receiving from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to expand the reach and impact of the citys Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, staff told council members Wednesday. The city of Los Altos Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), 2022 was adopted by the City Council in March 2022. But the depth of suffering we may avert by rapidly decarbonizing our economy, strengthening our municipal resilience, and building stronger communities of common concern across the city is up to us. Spruce 1 is projected to be retired by 2029, and Spruce 2 is slated to be converted to natural gas by 2027. | jbaugh@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbaugh. linked with heart attacks, respiratory disease and asthma. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Meaningful public participation should drive the development of the plan, and goals should be set based on the scientific consensus on climate change. People want better [options].. Among some business leaders, there is anger and resentment. Achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 will require reducing as many GHG emissions produced by the City and its residents as possible and sequestering the remaining emissions through nature-based solutions, innovative carbon sequestration solutions, community-based sequestration projects, and local carbon offsets. In December 2017, the SA Climate Ready SA Climate Ready is San Antonio's plan to meet the present and future challenges of a changing climate, building on actions already enacted for The fine stems from nearly $615,400 in spending that the unions treasurer reported under his own name rather than the San Antonio Police Officers Association. Pelaez said theres a lot of hype and anxiety around the draft plan, but its important that those commenting have actually read it. The gas burned in buildings causes about 12% of US climate pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. We know that every single thing we do to improve our experience or to improve how were affected by climate change always increases standard of living, Lyons said. Thats because some of them require technologies, like electric-powered fire engines and ambulances, that have yet to be developed, said Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, a champion of the plan and a climate expert. Elena Bruess is the environment, water and climate reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. A Department of the City and County of San Francisco. But even so, Austinites dont necessarily want gas, said Chelsea Gomez, a community ambassador who consulted on the city plan. She is a Trinity University alum with bachelors degrees in Communication and Spanish, and a Master of Arts Degree from the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Under CPS Flexible Path Resource Plan, the utility plans to decrease its reliance on coal by 61 percent and increase renewable energy sources by 127 percent by 2040. What's changed? The City concluded a public engagement process to gather community input on the draft goals, strategies, and actions. Dallas Williams is a Producer for The Source at Texas Public Radio. The plant, with its two coal-fired generating units, continues to operate on the Southeast Side as air quality advocates have long called for CPS to retire it. It echoes how an electricity and gas company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars scaling back San Antonios climate ambitions by funding the citys plan-writing process, replacing academics with its preferred consultants and writing its own Flexible Path that would let it keep polluting. He's covered various facets of government and politics ever since. Now that the Plan is released, the City will quickly turn to implementation. The city, in collaboration with theUniversity of Texas at San Antonio, will now study the success of each installation. Spruce Power Plant. The year before it is was down to 2.7 percent full. Approximately two years later, on October 17, 2019, City Council adopted the CAAP by Ordinance 2019-10-17-0840. How does the plan address issues of climate equity? The original proposal released in January was met with criticism, largely from the business community for its strict deadlines and estimated costs of implementation, but also from environmental activists who said the plan wasn't nearly aggressive enough to effect necessary change. City Council will vote on a climate action and adaptation plan on Oct. 17. San Antonio College. Last week, the San Antonio City Council voted 10-1 in favor of a climate plan intended to drive the City's climate pollution to zero by 2050 and better prepare residents for the extreme weather accelerated by global warming. We all have aspirations to have a clean environment, clean air and to conserve energy but when you look at the cost of these things theyre worried about being carbon neutral. Were simply resolving to reach a goal thats 30 years out, he said. 2017-06-22-0031R in support of the Paris Climate Agreement; directing city staff to develop a plan to help San Antonio meet the objectives of this agreement. This fund was created with the adoption of the citys 2023 budget at the request of former city councilwoman Ana Sandoval. Slides from Opening Meeting, Fall 2015. . The moves have so far proven a success for Texas Gas. PDF SA CLIMATE READY - texas.planning.org The CAAP actions were identified through quantitative and qualitative analysis, stakeholder engagement, including but not limited to workshops resident community workshop, business community workshop, and survey of best practices. The members were selected from the community to focus on equity and write an ambitious plan, but the industry was already thwarting them. The area missed the deadline to bring ozone concentration under the federal limit, which was lowered in 2018. SA Climate Ready, also known as the Climate Action and Adaption Plan, lays out a road map for the city to prepare for climate change and reach an overall objective of carbon neutrality meaning the city, its residents and businesses would stop adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2050. The climate plan originally called for completely eliminating natural gas use in all buildings by 2040.
Was California Involved In The War Of 1812,
Dentrix Software Requirements,
Cacc Conference Women's Basketball,
What Animal Is In My Attic At Night,
Articles S
