June 18, 2007

Resolution #89: Environmental Education Funding finds that there is a critical need for educating the next generation in environmental awareness and asks that full and dedicated funding sources for such environmental education outreach be created.

Resolution #21 Reforming America’s Agricultural Policy supports the promotion of healthy diets for all residents, including strengthening incentives and infrastructure to encourage more fruit/vegetable production, organic farming, better access to fresh foods and investment in programs promoting healthy food, expansion of programs that help communities invest in retail markets, food-based businesses and increasing access to farmers markets, farm-to-cafeteria programs that bring the freshest, locally grown food into school lunch programs. The resolution also urges Congress to strengthen and expand agriculture conservation programs as a means to improve air and water quality, protect urban water sheds, and fund agriculture conservation programs and make water utility watershed management programs eligible for funding under the Partnerships and Cooperation Program.

Resolution #90: Importance of Municipal Water highlights the strong investment of local governments in providing clean, safe and affordable water to its citizens and outlines the environmental costs of bottled water including greenhouse gas emissions created through transportation as well as the solid waste generated. The resolution calls on the Conference of Mayors to conduct a detailed study of the importance of municipal water and the impact of bottled water on municipal waste.

Resolution #11: Combating the Emerald Ash Borer in Our Nation’s Cities calls upon Congress to provide cities with assistance in dealing the removal and replacement of diseased trees; and to work with cities to increase public awareness programs on emerald ash borer infestation.

Resolution #91: Increasing Federal Role in the Assessment, Development and Financing of Critical National Infrastructure urges Congress to immediately address the country’s infrastructure financing gap through short-term measures such as expanding the use of flexible tolling provisions and extending to all infrastructure projects those federal policy options that enable public-private partnerships and stimulate greater investment, such as Private Activity Bonds, as well as longer-term strategies such as the development of a more progressive alternative transportation funding system like Mileage/Weight Based Revenue systems; urges Congress to make our nation’s critical infrastructure a top funding priority so as to ensure that all infrastructure of regional and national significance receives adequate federal funding, as a supplement to state and local funds, for ongoing maintenance and continued improvement; strongly urges Congress to enact legislation that will both reverse the decline in the federal share of infrastructure financing and require full federal funding of federally-imposed mandates on state and local infrastructure projects; and strongly encourages Congress to enact legislation that will require federal agencies to systematically report and update critical infrastructure needs.

Resolution #92: Supporting Waterfront Revitalization calls for the Conference of Mayors to support increasing federal brownfields funding, restoring funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund’s stateside program, improving federal investment in infrastructure development, enhancing the role of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in waterfront revitalization, and encouraging enactment of Water Resources Development Act legislation; and calls upon the federal government to collaborate with cities to pursue waterfront revitalization initiatives.

Resolution #87: Endorsing the U. S. Mayors Federal Climate Policy Framework endorses an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 and urges the U.S. Congress and the federal government to incorporate a Federal Climate Policy Framework which consists of 5 actions – National Reduction Target, Climate Friendly Transportation and Land Use Policies, Climate Friendly Energy Policies, Climate Friendly Federal Government Facilities and Operation, and Managing Climate Impacts on Local Communities - into the development of all federal policies and programs on climate protection.

Resolution #81: Adopting EPA’s Energy Star Challenge to Reduce Energy Use in Public and Private Sector Buildings endorses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Challenge as a key strategy in meeting the goals of the Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement and will make available tools and resources to its members to assist them in their efforts to develop plans to meet the goals of the ENERGY STAR Challenge in all buildings in the city.

Resolution #88: Supporting the Creation of an Energy and Environment Block Grant calls on Congress and the Administration to create an Energy and Environmental Block Grant at the Department of Energy, modeled after the very successful Community Development Block Grant program and encourages Congress to authorize and appropriate the Energy and Environment Block Grant starting at $4 billion annually.