The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
More than just lip service…
The Crested Butte Town Council is ready to implement an Energy Action Plan (EAP) for the community, but town staff tried to pull back the reins a bit and cautioned the council that in tough financial times, the plan could be hard to maintain. The council hopes to approve an EAP at the next meeting on Monday, June 1.
The plan came out of a valley-wide initiative in 2008 to inventory and reduce carbon emissions throughout the area. The intent of the Crested Butte plan is to “guide the creation and implementation of energy policy and programs within the town of Crested Butte.”
The goal of the plan is to lower emissions in Crested Butte, based on a 2005 baseline, by 20 percent by 2020 and reduce emissions 80 percent by 2050. The draft plan calls for the town to develop several new programs. One would audit residential homes to identify low-cost ways to improve energy efficiency. Another would have the Office of Resource Efficiency (ORE) collaborate with the school district to develop an energy efficiency curriculum.
Other educational programs would reach out to local businesses and residents. The plans recommend creating a “pay-as-you-throw” program to encourage more recycling. The plan also requires the town to lower emissions from government buildings. There is a recommendation that all new annexations to town have a “net zero CO2 footprint.”
Councilperson Billy Rankin has been the lead town representative on the Energy Action Plan project. “A lot of good work has gone into the plan,” he told the council. “Obviously not everything will happen at once. It will be a project by project situation when the money, time and energy become available.”
Mayor Alan Bernholtz wanted to make sure the EAP was really utilized. “I don’t want to just pay lip service to the idea of energy efficiency in Crested Butte,” he said. “We have a chance to put our lips to the pavement and actually do something. This is a great thing for the community. It is an energy road map to follow.”
Town building and zoning director Bob Gillie has been involved with the development of the EAP. He told the council, “This draft is only the Crested Butte-specific plan. There is a lot more to it. It will get thicker as time goes on.”
Town building administrator Phillip Supino said the “hope is that all the government agencies in the county will adopt the EAP. But we aren’t sure where the multi-jurisdictional document is going at the moment.”
Rankin said the next step was adoption and implementation. “We should start looking at the budget to fund projects and form strategies to get the plan working.”
Bernholtz emphasized he didn’t want to see the plan thrown on a shelf and forgotten. “I would like to see a committee or councilmember be responsible for following through with the plan,” he said. “Maybe we should get quarterly reports to make sure we stay on this.”
Town manager Susan Parker said she had reviewed the draft and wanted to caution the council. “If you adopt this as it is, there will be certain expectations by the public to follow through,” she said. “I encourage you to really review this and have a plan on how to deal if the money is not available to implement the projects.”
Parker emphasized to the council that the town was facing some difficult financial times. “Everything is on the table at the moment. To put in new programs would be tough,” she said.
“I just want to see momentum with this,” said Bernholtz. “But not at the expense of human services or town services. But in the long run it will save the town money.”
Gillie said the town should “move in tandem with the other jurisdictions in the county. I’d like to make sure everyone is moving together. I can see the town having its own plan and another plan that is multi-jurisdictional. The town plan could be ready for review by next month.”
The council will discuss the draft in June.
