Politics & Government

Climate Action Plan: Before and After

Here are the changes planning commissioners made to Elk Grove's Climate Action Plan.

Felicia Mello, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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Recently, we reported on , the document that outlines how the city will shrink greenhouse gas emissions as part of a statewide effort to fight global warming. The commission voted 3-2 to delete any reference to human-caused global warming from the document after some commissioners questioned whether the phenomenon is real.

Yeah, OK, some readers responded, but what about the details? Will the city still be taking the same actions to control emissions?

Good question. Below is a comparison of the original plan and the edited version that will go before commissioners tonight. For those policy wonks who want to dig further (you know who you are) we've attached the full edits as a PDF.

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Original Climate Action Plan Edited Plan Eight pages of background on what global warming is, how it works and how it is expected to affect California Entire section is deleted If voluntary energy efficiency standards for existing buildings don't reduce emissions enough, city could introduce mandatory standards No mention of mandatory standards City would target solar energy businesses for business attraction programs Eliminated Require developers to include heat-reflective surfaces and recycling centers in new buildings Required only where "feasible" Adopt policy to reduce use of plastic bags and styrofoam food containers City would "consider" policy, for styrofoam only Build 200 electric car charging stations Build stations "consistent with the demand" Pass an ordinance requiring sellers of homes and commercial buildings to provide buyers with energy efficiency audits, and consider requiring improvements Voluntary program would encourage audits and improvements

Many of the strategies in the original document remain unchanged, like working to extend light rail and Amtrak to Elk Grove, planting shade trees in new developments, and requiring new buildings to be 15 percent more efficient than minimum state standards require.

The Commission will consider the revised draft at .

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Readers, what do you think of these changes? Significant, or not that big a deal? Tell us in the comments.

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