Glenwood Springs City Council has officially approved an updated energy and climate action plan. The city’s goal is a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, using 2022 as the starting point.
Glenwood Springs’ first climate action plan was established in 2009. City staff and consultants from CLEER and BlueStrike have been working on the new plan for the past year.
City council unanimously voted to approve the new plan during its August 15 meeting.
Zuleika Pevec is with CLEER, which helped the city develop the plan. During the meeting, she said each goal comes with strategies and actions for the city to pursue. One example is a broad goal of energy efficiency and conservation.
“One of the actions is to continue to work with us at CLEER on providing rebates and other incentives to reduce electric consumption for Glenwood Springs residents,” she said.
Another goal is to reduce emissions from employees commuting to work.
Some of the proposed actions for that goal include better options for bike commuters, including e-bike rebates, as well as discounts for RFTA bus passes and carpool and vanpooling options.
Rich Swanson, with the group BlueStrike that helped the city develop the plan, told city council that they wanted to be intentional about making the plan achievable.
“For every strategy that has been recommended, you can see there is a lead department, a measure of the emissions impact potential and also a recommended start and completion year,” he said.
He said there’s also an estimated cost and suggestion for funding for each strategy, which city officials will be able to access in an online annex with additional data and information.
Some city councilors were concerned that the South Canyon Landfill wasn’t a part of the plan, even though it accounts for 90% of municipal greenhouse gas emissions.
Instead, a separate mitigation plan is being developed.
That’s because the city is working on updated studies and measurements for pollutants like methane at the landfill, and the state is releasing new guidelines and programs for landfill management, later this year.
The city’s planning and zoning commission, along with all city department heads, will all get a copy of the plan to better understand their role in implementing the strategies.
