County ready to appoint members to new Carbon Policy Task Force

Ten names to choose from

Gunnison County is taking another small step toward a big environmental goal as it sets up interviews with applicants for a Carbon Policy Task Force. The Board of County Commissioners hopes that new panel will put together a policy for controlling some local sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We thought it would be a good time to set up a committee of people who were, hopefully, learned in the area and who could convene and meet and provide us with a proposed policy for the county on this issue,” Commissioner Jim Starr said.
After a call went out from county officials earlier this year for people interested in serving on a Gunnison County Carbon Policy Task Force, eight applicants responded and two others expressed interest outside the allotted timeframe, but that shouldn’t count against them.
“This is an ad hoc group,” commissioner Hap Channell said, “and my personal opinion is that we’re trying to get the most interested, best qualified, best minds to the table that we can get. In my mind, if somebody is expressing interest, they ought to be able to go through the interview process.”
The Task Force was born out of discussions last year between the Board of County Commissioners and the County Planning Commission about including a carbon neutrality requirement in the Special Development Project Resolution, which is a regulation that will govern mega-projects in the county.
The county commissioners denied the Planning Commission’s recommendation to include the requirement because it would have been the only requirement of its kind in county regulation. But the recommendation spawned a push to change that.
“The county does not currently have a policy on this and we thought it wise to develop a policy that would be county-wide that would have an effect not only on new development but on projects that the county takes on and more generally, all of our actions,” Starr said.
Choosing from the pool of applicants to the task force will be a big step in developing that county-wide policy and the commissioners are pleased with the way the task force is shaping up.
Among those who applied for a seat at the policy table are local environmental advocates Chris Menges, Climate and Clean Energy Coordinator for High Country Citizens’ Alliance, and Andris Zobs, Executive Director for the Office for Resource Efficiency.
Planning Commissioner Richard Karas, who has a long-standing interest in energy and carbon-related policy, Crested Butte Mountain Resort Planning Director John Sale, County Planner Cathy Pagano, retired University of Illinois at Chicago professor Don McLeod, local builder Steve Schechter and Perry Anderson, Director of Community Relations for the Mt. Emmons Moly Company, also sent letters of interest.
To the surprise of his colleagues, Channell, who has been an advocate for the county-wide policy, said he would not serve on the task force, because he felt it might, “prejudice the conversation.”
“I’m certainly interested in this—we all are, I think,” Channell said. “But I didn’t think it worked particularly well to have a commissioner on the inclusionary housing task force. I thought it would work well going into it but it didn’t work well… I just think that it would be a whole lot more objective if a political voice was not there.”
Commissioner Paula Swenson agreed that involving politicians could gum up the works when trying to make progress.
“In all honesty, I think the master planning of the rodeo grounds is doing an exceptional job because there isn’t a political person there. They’re coming at it just looking at what needs to be accomplished,” she said.
So the commissioners tried to determine exactly what they would like to see the task force accomplish and, after some consideration of possible avenues to take, County Manager Matthew Birnie suggested the commissioners stick to areas where they have authority, like transportation, land use, building codes and operations.
To do that, the commissioners took hold of a recommendation by Karas to find a way to add the task force’s policy to existing county regulations, like the SDPR or Land Use Resolution.
“This group doesn’t need to take on philosophical energy issues, because that’s in our energy plan. But I do think the charge should have parameters such as the county’s authority, and what exists in terms of our strategic plan. We want to make sure that the policy recommendations aren’t out of sync with what exists in terms of energy policy,” Channell said.
The commissioners said they would like to see some policy language come out of the task force in six months with an interim report in three months. The commissioners will interview the applicants March 10. The commissioners will likely choose between six and 10 people to sit on the task force.