By Judy Sheahan
October 12, 2009

Conference of Mayors Past President Trenton (NJ) Mayor Douglas H. Palmer joined numerous Senators including Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry (MA) and Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer (CA) for a Capitol Hill rally on September 30 when the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S.1733) was released. Included in the bill is a major win for the Conference of Mayors – a provision where 25 percent of allowances that are being allocated to states, tribes, and local government will be distributed using the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) formula. Mayors came to DC twice in July and September to lobby for this provision of the bill. The House version of the bill provides no direct funding to local governments to do energy conservation and efficiency projects.

Conference of Mayors President Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who has been urging mayors to contact their Senators to pass climate change legislation that includes a local government component, said, “75 percent of the Gross National Product comes from the 100 largest metro areas and that is where the energy is being used – you cannot have a national strategy to reduce carbon emissions that does not work directly with cities and their metropolitan areas to promote energy efficiency and conservation.”

Boxer acknowledged the key role that mayors played in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and told the audience that the 1,000th mayor would sign the Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement that week. The announcement was cheered among rally participants. Nickels conceived the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement in 2005 as a way to demonstrate local commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Palmer said, “We are pleased that the Senate has responded to our request that the bill include a provision for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. By doing this, these Senate leaders are acknowledging the important role cities play in creating green jobs and achieving energy independence and climate protection. The Conference has worked long and hard to establish this innovative program as a cornerstone of our national climate protection strategy.”

A major provision of the bill creates a cap and trade program that would establish mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals of three percent below 2005 levels by 2012, 20 percent reduction by 2020, 32 percent by 2030, and 83 percent by 2050. The Conference of Mayors has policy that calls for a reduction in national GHG levels by more than 80 percent by 2050.

Other sections geared towards local governments are provisions that distribute allowance funding to state and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to fund transportation strategies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, programs that promote water conservation and efficiency, increase recycling rates, increase energy efficiency in fleets, programs in education and job training, and promotion of energy efficiency in buildings. There are also funds provided to the states for flood control, protection, prevention and response with the priority being given to those projects that directly assist local governments.

Other Senate Committees that have jurisdiction over a comprehensive climate and energy bill include Finance, Agriculture, and the Energy and Natural Resources who already reported their portion of the bill out of committee. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will then combine the different portions of the bill into a comprehensive bill that will be voted on by the entire Senate. Passage in the Senate is expected to be somewhat difficult given concerns regarding how this bill will impact coal-fired utilities, the potential rise in energy costs, and how this may impact the automobile industry.

Boxer said, “We know clean energy is the ticket to strong, stable economic growth – it’s right here in front of us, in the ingenuity of our workers and the vision of our entrepreneurs. We must seize this opportunity, or others will move ahead.” At the September 15 Lobby Day event, Boxer told the mayors that she needed every mayor to call their Senators if they wanted to get a bill passed. “Your help is enormously important,” Boxer said. “Don’t take anyone for granted.”