Trail Times Wednesday, January 2, 2013 www.trailtimes.ca A3
Local
Program helping communities meet carbon neutral goal
Support from Shoppers
By Timothy Schafer Times Staff
Submitted photo
On Pledge Day, Shoppers Drug Mart owner Linda Seib (centre) presented a $1,534 donation in support of Digital Mammography. Proceeds were generated through the Tree of Life Campaign. KBRH Health Foundation representatives Carol Schlender, chair (left) and Janet Goth, director (right) accepted this donation.
New communications coordinator hired FROM PAGE 1 up about four per cent, while residential water service is increasing two per cent, or about $6. Sewer service costs to taxpayers will increase 2.3 per cent, or nearly $6. The annual lump sum to be paid for garbage and waste after Feb. 28 will be $110 per individual dwelling unit per year, with an early bird discount of $8 at $102 before Feb. 28. “It is noted that the garbage fee is self funding and the fees totally cover the costs of providing the service,” said Jolly. Council remains committed to enhancing investment on infrastructure, said Jolly, and the water budget reflected a 3.36 per cent increase in capital expenditures for the year. For sewer, the budget was calling for a 2.5 per cent increase. “The increase is slightly
higher than water, due to the fact the overall user fee collection is lower and the revenue generation capacity is lower as well,” said Jolly. Capital funding in the sewer funding has been increased by three per cent to reflect the need to replace and repair the aging infrastructure. New hire The city has hired a new communications and events coordinator. As of today Andrea Jolly (no relation to councillor Kevin Jolly) will take over the role of keeping the citizens of Trail informed of what is happening and going on in the city. “Andrea comes to the city with a diverse background and skill set in marketing, communications from Teck Resources Ltd.,” said Kevin Jolly.
She was a marketing and communications coordinator with the business development group at Teck. As well, Andrea served as the marketing coordinator with B.C. Ferries, and also has other experience in the private sector with marketing and communications. Her focus will be on enhancing communications activities the city has with the public on a daily basis. In addition, Andrea will fill a significant void in the area of events coordination and will directly coordinate citysponsored events. “She will also be a community asset as far as being a secondary resource for other events in the city where there is a public benefit,” said Kevin. Andrea will also be handling the city’s Facebook site as well as its webpage.
Nothing like keeping it local. A new Carbon Neutral Kootenays program administered by three regional districts is helping local governments meet their carbon neutral commitments and keep money in the Kootenays. Through a joint procurement of Kootenay-based offsets, 12 local governments have signed on to commit to buying Kootenay-based carbon offsets together, meaning the local municipalities and regional districts will save again while keeping the investment in the region. A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere. The purchase of the carbon offset credits allows the local governments to reach their goal of attaining carbon neutrality, said Regional District of Central Kootenay chair John Kettle. “While it is not realistic for us to completely eliminate fossil fuels from our operations, we can take responsibility for reducing our emissions and keep those investments in the Kootenays,” he said in a press release. The regional districts of Kootenay-Boundary (RDKB) and East Kootenay (RDEK) are also involved, as are the cities of Trail, Rossland and Greenwood, and the municipalities of Fruitvale, Kaslo, Midway, Slocan and Invermere. Earlier this week the Village of Montrose signed on for the purchase of carbon credits. A carbon credit is any tradable certificate or permit that gives the holder the right to emit one tonne of greenhouse gas (usually carbon dioxide). There are many companies that sell carbon credits—realized from individual “green” projects—to commercial and individual customers interested in lowering their carbon footprint. By working together over the last four years, local governments across the Columbia Basin and Boundary areas are estimated to have saved up to $750,000 on energy in their own operations, said Larry Gray, chair of the RDKB.
“We are saving energy, emissions and money in our operations through actions such as retrofits,” he said. “We are piloting approaches to save emissions in our communities such as organics diversion. Becoming carbon neutral is one part of that commitment.” For the three Kootenays-based regional districts and 28 member municipalities, the combined carbon footprint for the corporate operations of these local governments (2008) is approximately 21,000 tonnes of CO2e per year, according to a July, 2010 report “Carbon Offsets for Kootenay Local Governments.” Purchasing offsets for these emissions will cost approximately $525,000 annually, it was found, beginning in early 2013 for the 2012 year. What those local projects will be is not known, however. In the report, identifying local offset projects was a primary goal of local governments and it was expected that the demand for offsets for the next few years would exceed the available supply. “There is not a simple system (e.g. a map, or screening tool) that could be used to define the possibilities for offset projects,” wrote Ron Macdonald and Dale Littlejohn in their report. “As more protocols become developed, it may be possible to use other data (land use, census stats, etc.) to conduct some form of screening for offset projects.” Carbon Neutral Kootenays (CNK) project is a multi-year effort supporting local governments and First Nations that are working towards becoming carbon neutral. The project is focused on reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from municipal, regional and First Nations’ corporate operations. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions at this level and scale is unique and involves 28 Kootenay municipalities, five First Nation communities and three regional districts. CNK is funded jointly by Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and the regional districts of Central Kootenay, East Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary.
We hope you have a safe and happy holiday and all the best in the new year. 364-2377 1198 Cedar Ave 2865