Energy Task Force recommendations end in "Good Discussion"
By Andrew Zwicker
City council was talking green at this Monday’s meeting. Recommendations from the Energy Task Force submitted to the city on January 4th made their way onto the agenda. While the recommendations were not accepted as presented, there were nevertheless environmental wins, according to the task force, in simply getting the discussion to the table.
Growing out of the Energy Task Force’s three goals of reducing Rossland's per capita energy use (limited impact on lifestyle, increasing awareness of lifestyle changes that may further the strategic vision, and developing consensus on Community Energy Plan through public involvement) the group submitted three recommendations to council. Those recommendations were:
- Implementation of the Action Plan will require Improved Coordination with the City. ETF should only act in an advisory role and NOT be responsible for implementation. City repreesentatives to attend key ETF meetings and implement findings
- City to appoint an Existing Senior Staff Person as Energy Manager (EM). EM to coordinate development and implementation of the Corporate Community Energy Plan
- City to place urgency on Completing the CEP. City to establish timelines, consider engaging consultant to meet deliverables. ETF to assist and look for funding options.
The main objections to an outright acceptance and implementation of the recommendations as put forward by Rossland CAO Victor Kuma rwere that there would be significant impacts on the city’s scarce financial and human resources and that the CEP aspect of the recommendations has to be coordinated through Fortis and Terasen, which is beyond the scope of the city and falls under the jurisdiction of the Utilities Commission.
According to ETF member Steve Ash, there was a misinterpretation of what the Energy Task Force was proposing in terms of resources.
“At this stage we weren’t talking about investments at all. We’re suggesting that the City needs to focus more on energy efficiency. We just think there needs to be responsibilities allocated to that. That’s what we were trying to do.”
The real win for the ETF in this scenario was simply getting their recommendations onto the table and initiating discussion on energy use in Rossland by city council and staff and further opening lines of communication and cooperation between the task force and the city.
“We’re reasonably happy with the outcome of the meeting because I think it’s clear that everybody is concerned about the issue and that it’s not a matter of investing capital or not, but rather of further discussion and where the city should be placing its priorities.”
Among the discussions results was a clarifying of exactly where the responsibilities lie for certain actions such as creating a Community Energy Plan.
“The conflict lies in who does the community energy planning,” explained Kumar. “That is not the role of the city. I’ve suggested that, 'great we can do community energy planning based on the resources that are already in place and use (the energy task force’s) resources to do the community energy planning part'. The corporate side of the energy plan is already being done by the Regional District. If the task force wants to work through the two utilities, we will support that.”
While council's talk veered into who would pay for any action plan developed by the task force, the real goal of the recomendations was not for capital investment at all but rather to provoke discussion and engage the city in thinking about its energy plans going forward. Provoking discussion at the city level gets back to the task force considers its ultimate purpose to be.
“We know we can’t alter responsibilities and that’s not what we’re trying to do,” added Ash. “If the city manager is responsible for one thing then all we are going to be doing is provoking him or her to look at those parts that we think should be looked at.”
In addition to communicating and offering input to the city, the Community Energy Plan is where the task force will be directing its energy. The task force will be working with local utilities companies to help engage the public in conservation. The plan is to educate businesses and people at the community level about the conservation incentives and programs already offered by the utilities and to assist in getting more people on board.
“If you asked me or any citizen of Rossland, I’m not sure we would know all of the programs that Terasen and Fortis are offering,” continued Ash. “I think that would be very helpful with some real benefits if more people knew about those programs and how to implement them. So by holding sessions to show people what is available, hopefully we’ll be able to move people in that direction.”
The task force is currently organizing a forum to bring together commercial energy users in Rossland and educate them about programs, grants, and incentives they can take advantage of.
So while no earth-shattering moves were made towards carbon neutrality during the discussion, lines were clearly drawn about who has responsibility for what and where each group should be focusing its efforts. The hope expressed by both sides is that this helps put a key piece of the sustainability foundation in place and that, through increased communication, real benefits will slowly begin to emerge over time.
Mayor Greg Granstrom summed up the discussion as it closed, stating, “The lines of communication are open and we need to say thanks for the report and in no way is this a condemnation of the task force. What we’re doing is in effect making things a little more open and straightforward. I think this motion is appropriate and things can move forward effectively from here.”
