Kansas City Moves Toward Action on Climate Protection

June 3, 2013

by Ron McLinden

Kansas City took a big step toward doing its part to reduce global warming on August 17 when the city council adopted a resolution to launch a climate protection planning process. Resolution 060777—see text below—was adopted without opposition.

Kansas City is one of nearly 300 cities across the United States (including seven in Missouri) whose mayors have signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement—a document initiated by Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle and sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. For full information on the agreement see: http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate

After signing the agreement in June, 2005, Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes directed her Environmental Management Commission to advise her on how to implement it. The commission’s 35–page report—which we’ve heard described as one of the best such documents produced for a city—is on the web at: http://www.kcmo.org/manager/OEQ/cpr.pdf

Resolution 060777 directs the city manager to initiate a widely inclusive planning process that will lay out a climate protection course of action. Chief Environmental Officer Dennis Murphey, hired by City Manager Wayne Cauthen earlier this year, will direct the effort. The fact that the city was about to launch such a process was one of the reasons he accepted this job, Murphey told members of Kansas City’s Thomas Hart Benton Sierra Club group conservation committee when he met with us on August 15. Murphey hopes to implement some “early win” actions while the planning is underway. (A million compact fluorescent light bulbs? Why not?)

Sierra Club members expect to be involved in the planning process—just as we have worked with the Environmental Management Commission for several years. In addition to participating in several of the expected five work groups—transportation, energy, policy and outreach, carbon offsets, and business/non-profit/government partnerships—a couple of us will stay close to the Environmental Management Commission.

A minor disappointment in the resolution is that the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce insisted on rewording it (1) to delete references to the Kyoto Protocol, (2) to delete mention of the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (because it mentions Kyoto), and (3) to add a stipulation that the city’s climate protection plan would not hurt economic development. We think we can live with those changes, and that the Chamber will eventually catch on that making the city more resource efficient and more sustainable will actually be good for business. (And hey—since the plan won’t be limited by the Kyoto targets, maybe we can set some even more ambitious goals!)

At this writing we are working with the Environmental Management Commission to identify a list of candidates from which the mayor will appoint an eleven-member steering committee. It’s hoped that the planning process will get far enough by the end of 2006 that an implementation staff can be written into the budget for the new fiscal year beginning May 1, 2007.

Following is the text of the resolution:

SECOND COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR RESOLUTION NO. 060777

Directing the City Manager and the City's Chief Environmental Officer to undertake a Climate Protection Planning Process for the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international assemblage of scientists, has found that climate disruptions, such as rising global sea levels and nine of the ten hottest years on record occurring in the past decade, is a reality and that human activities are largely responsible for increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions; and

WHEREAS, many leading U.S. companies have adopted greenhouse gas reduction programs to demonstrate corporate social responsibility.

WHEREAS, state and local governments throughout the United States are adopting emission reduction programs and that this leadership is bipartisan among governors and mayors alike; and

WHEREAS, many cities throughout the nation, both large and small, are reducing greenhouse gas emissions through programs that provide economic and quality of life benefits such as reduced energy bills, green space preservation, air quality improvements, reduced traffic congestion, improved transportation choices, job creation, and economic growth through energy conservation and new energy technologies; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. That the City Manager is hereby directed to undertake a Climate Protection Planning Process for the City in active consultation with the community; conduct an inventory of existing city programs and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; establish goals to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while preserving economic development, transportation options and the ability of responsible producers of energy to provide a stable and cost-effective energy supply; provide necessary staffing and resources for that process; establish a task force representing all stakeholders including membership from the Environmental Management Commission to provide input; and, by 2007, recommend for City Council consideration specific actions that the City will implement.

Section 2. That Kansas City will work in conjunction with International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the Mid-America Regional Council, and other appropriate organizations to develop a Climate Protection Plan for the City.

Section 3. That the task force/steering committee established to guide the process of developing a Climate Protection Plan for Kansas City be comprised of not more than eleven members, balanced among stakeholder interests, and appointed by the Mayor.