So I've been listening to the Better Place press conference, and
there was a brief mention of the "Bay Area Climate Change Compact." I
looked up info on it, and durned if your aren't evidently the go-to
guy
Naturally, I'm very interested in hearing how the City of Mountain
View might participate in various ways. Any suggestions at this point?
Bye for now!
Bruce E

Bay Area big-city mayors to endorse climate compact at SVLG event
LEADERSHIP GROUP BRINGS TOGETHER THREE MAYORS
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
Posted: 09/09/2008

The Bay Area's big-city mayors are expected to commit to a
climate-change compact today. The scope is wide, but details are thin.

San Jose's Chuck Reed, San Francisco's Gavin Newsom and Oakland's Ron
Dellums are scheduled to participate in the Silicon Valley Leadership
Group's annual Projections event on the Santa Clara University
campus, where they'll pledge support for a region-wide approach to
combating global warming.

What's being called the Bay Area Climate Change Compact is, according
to the leadership group, "a call to take immediate action to limit
greenhouse gas emissions and increase the resilience of the region to
global climate change."

Few details have been released as the document undergoes some final
tweaks. But Mike Mielke, the group's director of environmental
programs and policy, said specific goals have been set for 2013,
including:

- Reducing electricity usage in municipal buildings by 10 percent;
- Adding 20,000 so-called green-collar jobs, including both
management and skilled positions;
- Decreasing community water consumption by 15 percent.

Other targets in the "Projections: Clean & Green" report to be
released today include:

- A common standard for green building and rooftop-solar installations;
- Persuading commuters to use public transit and to walk and bike
more frequently;
- Boosting use of renewable energy;
- Adopting a regional climate-change
- Diverting more waste from landfills;
- Increasing use of electric vehicles.

In San Jose, Reed proposed a "Green Vision" in 2007 with similar
aggressive goals, which have been approved by the city council. In
San Francisco, Newsom has pushed for incentives to decrease the cost
of solar panels and pushed for strict green building standards.

"It is expanding the scope of the 'Green Vision' to the rest of the
region," said Jeff Janssen, Reed's senior policy adviser for
government relations. "It will allow the Bay Area to speak with one
voice when we go to Sacramento and talk with our state leaders about
the things necessary to affect change."

Besides the three cities, leaders hope to get the compact approved by
a wide variety of entities, including the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District, the Association of Bay Area Governments and
other Bay Area cities. It already has been endorsed by the board of
the leadership group, which represents more than 250 valley-based
companies.

"Rather than solely relying on city-by-city efforts, our regional
Climate Change Compact will galvanize the horsepower of 100 cities,
towns and counties across the Bay Area," said Carl Guardino, chief
executive of the leadership group. "This public-private partnership
will create an incentive for cities, but also a vehicle for employers
and individuals to respond to a call for collective action."

Details are still being finalized, Mielke said. A final draft is
expected to be ready by Sept. 19 when the Joint Policy Committee
meets. That group coordinates efforts of the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District, the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay
Conservation and Development Commission and the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission.

"What's significant about this is that it's very comprehensive,''
said Tom Bottorff, senior vice president of regulatory relations at
Pacific Gas & Electric. "It's not focused on one industry. It's not
focused on one step. It crosses all types of boundaries to focus on
greenhouse gas reductions."

As a member of the leadership group, PG&E has ratified the compact,
Bottorf said. He expects the cities and various governmental agencies
to do the same.

The utility will focus on promoting renewable energy, energy
efficiency and zero- or ultra-low-emission vehicles, he said.

He described the region-wide, public-private partnership as "fairly ambitious."

Janssen, who said the compact's goal aren't loftier than what San
Jose already has approved in its "Green Vision," expects to bring the
document before city council in October.

Neither his boss nor San Francisco's Newsom wanted to sign a document
"full of empty promises or one that would sit on a shelf and gather
dust," Janssen said. Instead, the compact will offer specific goals
and a timeline, although that information hasn't been released to the
public yet.