(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
December 04, 2015 - 1:00 PM
KAMLOOPS – City council has decided not support the creation of a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Kamloops.
At a meeting this week, the councillors voted 5-4 against the plan proposed by the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association.
Kamloops already has an air shed management plan and it has a corporate emissions plan, but it does not have a plan to deal with emissions of the individual, and according to Cheryl Kabloona with the association, the city needs a community emissions plan.
Kabloona said the Kamloops’ community development plan has a goal to decrease emissions by 25 per cent by 2020. She said not only have emissions gone up by 30 per cent but there is currently no plan in place, or system of reporting, to decrease emissions. She argued the city needed to create a long term plan to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
She also cited research from the Angus Reid Forum which says the majority of Canadians support clean energy initiatives even it increases energy costs.
Coun. Denis Walsh put a motion on the table to create a community emissions plan and fellow councillor Dieter Dudy said Kamloopsians did not have the luxury to wait any longer on the issue of climate change.
In the end, the majority of councillors sided with Coun. Tina Lange’s rationale.
She said city staff were already overburdened and simply did not have the time and resources to create a comprehensive plan. She suggested council focus their energies on things like creating an anti-idling bylaw.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015