By Susan Jarvis
February 12, 2007

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory opened the environmental committee meeting by welcoming the member mayors and applauding them on their continued commitment to making their cities cleaner. McCrory designed the agenda for this meeting so that member mayors would have an opportunity to be briefed on the environmental legislation and programmatic priorities of both the Senate and the Bush adminstration.

James Connaughton, chairman for the Council on Environmental Quality, opened the environmental committee meeting by providing mayors with an update on the Bush administration’s environmental priorities. Connaughton briefed the mayors on clean air initiatives, including the Clean Air Interstate Rule and new rules around clean diesel, which would aim to “reduce the black puff” by ninety -percent.” Connaughton said the Administration’s “twenty in ten” goal would reduce the growth of CO2 and reduce green houses gases by twenty percent in the next ten years. In closing, Connaughton also touted the executive order signed January 24 that would reduce the oil consumption in fleet vehicles, twenty percent annually through 2015 and increase the use of renewable and alternative fuels.

Former St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, now Deputy Associate Administrator, EPA Office of Intergovernmental Relations, updated the committee on some of EPA’s 2007 initiatives, including water and waste water issues and the Clear Skies Imitative.

Erik Olson, Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, outlined their priorities for the new Congress. “Global warming is at the top of the list,” he began. Olson also applauded the mayors climate change initiatives. “Climate change has huge economic opportunities, in the forms of job growth and technology training,” said Olson. Other priorities include protecting children and families from environmental toxins, addressing Brownfields funding shortfalls and water infrastructure issues. Olson said the US government needs to become more energy efficient and set the standard for energy efficiency.

For the third year, The United States Conference of Mayors and Novelis Inc. have partnered to encourage and reward aluminum can recycling in America’s cities. “Participating cities should be excited and proud that they contributed to the recycling of more than two million pounds of aluminum cans,” said Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart co-chair of the committee. Gary Wygant from Novelis was on hand to present plaques to the winning cities. Milwaukee (WI) Mayor Tom Barrett, Fontana (CA) Mayor Mark Nuami, Bowling Green (KY) Mayor Elaine Walker, and Richmond (IN) Mayor Sally Hutton were recognized for collecting the most pounds of aluminum cans recycled. Lexington (KY) Mayor Jim Newberry, Tallahassee (FL) Mayor John Marks, Bowling Green (KY) Mayor Elaine Walker, and Columbus (IN) Mayor Fred Armstrong were also recognized for their innovative communications and marketing campaigns, which helped spread the word about both the Cans For Cash Challenge aluminum can recycling. The winning cities that Partnered with local Keep America Beautiful, Inc. affiliate were Louisville (KY) Mayor Jerry E. Abramson and Tupelo (MS) Mayor Ed Neely. Many cities have also been recognized at local events, celebrating their accomplishment. For a full list of both participants and winners, log onto the website usmayors.org/mwma.