Santa Monica joins resolution to reduce harmful emissions

Santa Monica Mayor Pam O’Connor announced last month that
Santa Monica is joining about 10 other cities in drafting a
resolution that will commit those who sign on to it to strive to
reduce industrial gas emissions, which many scientists say
contribute to global warming.

O’Connor was responding to an initiative by Seattle Mayor
Greg Nickels to get cities to adopt at least the goals set by the
Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol, which went into effect Feb. 16, is an
international treaty that sets deadlines for the reduction of
industrial emissions.

Currently 140 countries have ratified the treaty. The United
States in 1997 signed the agreement but retracted its support in
2001.

“From Mayor Nickels’ point of view, if the federal
government won’t take the step and do the right thing to sign
on to this protocol, cities can do it,” said Marianne
Bichsel, a spokeswoman for Nickels.

Craig Perkins, a spokesman for O’Connor, agreed that the
federal government isn’t taking the necessary action to
protect the environment and that cities need to assume
responsibility.

“We are going to have to do what we can do within our
communities,” Perkins said.

Global warming is a particular concern for Santa Monica and
other coastal cities because it raises the sea level and
contributes to melting the ice cap, Perkins added.

“Every year that goes by without communities taking action
means that cities like Santa Monica which sit on the coastline are
facing higher and higher risks,” he said.

Four years ago, Seattle agreed to meet targets set by the Kyoto
Protocol.

This year, on the same day the treaty went into effect, Nickels
announced that he will work to get 140 U.S. cities ““ the same
number of countries that ratified the treaty ““ to adopt equal
or more aggressive environmental goals.

Thus far, Santa Monica and about 10 other cities have signed on
to the initiative.

“If we get enough cities to do it we can make a real
impact,” Bichsel said.

Nickels plans to present a resolution to the U.S. Conference of
Mayors in June establishing a coalition of cities, known as
“the Green Team.” Though the details of the resolution
are not complete, cities wishing to join will have to agree to take
active steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

O’Connor will be present at the conference and will
support the resolution, Perkins said.

In addition, O’Connor’s commitment to this
initiative falls in line with Santa Monica’s other ongoing
environment-friendly policies that directly or indirectly decrease
gas emissions, Perkins said.

“The Kyoto Protocol is actually in our mind a pretty easy
to achieve target, so we probably as a community will be adopting
something more aggressive,” he added.

This year, Santa Monica is expected to institute reduction
targets for both the community and the city’s operations that
exceed the protocol’s target of a 7 percent decrease in
emissions.

Among other programs, the city will offer incentives to
encourage energy and water efficiency and will look into
constructing solar electric panels to produce clean electricity
locally, Perkins said.

In addition to this initiative, other efforts are being made by
state and local governments to reduce air pollution.

In July 2002, the state approved a legislation ““ known as
“the Pavley bill” in reference to its sponsor Fran
Pavley, a California assemblywoman ““ which will reduce carbon
dioxide emissions from trucks and cars by 22 percent by 2012 and 30
percent by 2016.

“There is no way this country can effectively fight global
warming without addressing pollution from cars (and) trucks,”
said Daniel Hinerfeld, a spokesman for the Natural Resources
Defense Council, which co-sponsored the law.

This law is one step in a long-term process, Hinerfeld said.

Currently, the auto industry is challenging the law in a suit
filed in December in a federal district court.

In Seattle, Nickels plans to work with the state legislature to
institute standards, modeled in part on the Pavley bill, that
require lower emissions from cars sold in Washington.