For Immediate
Release: May 17, 2007
Contact: Nick
Engelfried, nengel1@verizon.net,
503-844-5711
City Council Votes to Curb Greenhouse Emissions
HILLSBORO, OR—On Tuesday, May 15th, the Hillsboro City Council unanimously
agreed to take new steps toward cutting the city’s emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. For months, a city council subcommittee has been looking at how Hillsboro could reduce its contributions to global warming; this careful planning process
resulted in the resolution that passed Tuesday evening.
The resolution
contains two major provisions. Firstly, the city plans to work with the International
Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) to calculate Hillsboro’s
current volume of emissions, devise a realistic goal for reducing emissions, and construct an action plan to fulfill that
goal. ICLEI has already helped many cities across the country, including several
in Oregon, find ways of reducing their greenhouse emissions;
according to this international organization, cities can decrease their impact on the environment while at the same time adding
to quality of life in the community, and saving money on energy bills.
Second,
Hillsboro will become the ninth city in Oregon to sign onto
the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement,
publicly stating the city government’s desire to see the issue of global warming addressed, and to cut greenhouse emissions
wherever possible. Over 500 cities nation wide have already signed onto this
document, making the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement one of the largest environmental movements among local governments.
The city’s
decision to look for new ways to address global warming was triggered in part by Hillsboro
college student Nick Engelfried, who gave a presentation on the Mayors Climate Agreement to the city council in October, 2006. Engelfried eventually became a citizen member of the workgroup that was assembled
to look at the issue, and which hammered out the details of the resolution that was finally adopted.
These
new steps taken by the city government help confirm Hillsboro’s
commitment to becoming an environmentally sustainable community. The mayor and
city council look forward to the new initiatives that are likely to result from the resolution, and move Hillsboro closer to its goals.
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