Sustainability and Resiliency Committee Minutes - September 1, 2021
The meeting of the Sustainability and Resiliency Committee was held in the City Commission Chambers at Fargo City Hall at 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 1, 2021.
Present:
John Strand (chair), Fargo City Commissioner
Tim Mahoney, Fargo Mayor
Jennifer Sweatman, At-Large Member of the Public
Greta Gramig, At-Large Member of the Public
Brenda Derrig, Fargo City Engineer
Bruce Taralson/Shawn Ouradnik, Fargo Inspections Directors
Bruce Grubb, Fargo City Administrator
Paul Matthys, Cass County Electric Cooperative Representative (Ex-officio)
Blake Mikesell (via conference call), Fargo School District Representative (Ex-officio)
Shawn Paschke (via conference call) Xcel Energy Representative (Ex-officio)
Dave Leker, Fargo Park District Representative (Ex-officio)
Ben Dow, Fargo Public Works Director
Absent:
Casey Steele, At-Large Member of the Public
Nicole Crutchfield, Fargo Planning Director
Approval of Agenda:
There were no changes or addition to the Agenda. Mr. Grubb moved to approve the agenda. Second by Ms. Gramig. There was unanimous approval.
Approval of Minutes:
There were no corrections or additions to the minutes from the July 13, 2021 meeting. Mr. Grubb moved to approve the minutes. Second by Ms. Derrig. There was unanimous approval.
C.L.E.A.N. Presentation:
Ed Gruchalla said the Citizens Local Energy Action Network (C.L.E.A.N.) are volunteers and like-minded people concerned about the environment and the direction of city, state and federal governments in regards to energy. He said many in the group have been involved in environmental groups and formed C.L.E.A.N. to think globally and act locally. C.L.E.A.N has about 130 members, he said, who were involved with the City and Cass County Electric when they were formulating solar arrays and have been to North Dakota Public Service Commission meetings to testify about net metering for North Dakota, which is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for electricity added to the grid. He said he got involved in climate change and the environmental movement when he returned from Vietnam and attended Valley City (N.D.) State University, where he met a biology professor who talked about climate change and population growth.
Paul Jensen said before moving to North Dakota, he was a corporate gypsy for many years, working for a large multinational company in Europe. In 1972, he said, The Club of Rome published “Limits to Growth,” which predicted quite accurately that the world was going to be in the soup it is in now when it comes to the environment sometime between 2016 and 2025. He said C.L.E.A.N. is interested in doing something globally but more so in the Fargo-West Fargo-Moorhead communities to work for continuous sustainability, emission reductions, efficiency improvements and alternative fueling systems for transportation. He said C.L.E.A.N. takes its lead from the global understanding of the changing climate, the nine planetary boundaries and sustainability goals of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He said the group subscribes to the understanding that climate change originates in human activity and influences the circumstances of life in ways that brings about instability and threatens current and future prosperity. Emissions from human activities come at a monetary, environmental and human cost, he said, that must be included in the price of products, services and activities, thereby enabling a conservative use of natural resources for the welfare of the communities. C.L.E.A.N is a pragmatic and non-political organization that wants to collaborate with the metro area and suggest achievable sustainability targets, he said. He said a sustainability policy is similar to an insurance policy, with the main goal of protection. He said a sustainability policyholder could be a local government, its residents, business owners or workers to protect the policyholder from a specific loss and the better it is, the less risk is absorbed, which will lower costs. He said the group is proposing a Greenest Cities Pact (GCP) for Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo. Municipalities adopt a GCP by resolution, he said, and agree to work to achieve GCP goals and use a sustainability planning tool with focus areas including diversity, environmental, economic development, housing, community development, shared services and infrastructure. The process is to research existing plans, best practices and ideas, define what the GCP means and develop a framework and deploy it, he said, and it is simply a plan to follow and identify where things have to be done. He said the Nine Planetary Boundaries, which were developed in 2009, include: stratospheric ozone depletion; loss of biodiversity; chemical pollution; climate change; ocean acidification; land system change; fresh water consumption and global hydrological cycle; nitrogen and phosphorus flows to biosphere and oceans; and atmospheric aerosol loading. Genetic diversity is horrible, he said, and this is a frightening situation due to the fact that humanity strives on the diversity of the various species, which are being destroyed through spraying, which is a double edge sword. For example, he said, if spray is not used for the West Nile virus, there are problems with diseases in human beings; however, nitrogen and phosphorus runoffs from spraying are the biggest problems. Those areas of excess are typically related to agriculture; however, agriculture is highly important in North Dakota; therefore, there needs to be balance. He said C.L.E.A.N wishes to participate and make suggestions to build a plan in Fargo that has shown to be successful. The framework for this plan can guide municipalities of all sizes towards sustainability actions. Communities can begin by assessing actions already accomplished and then choose priority objectives, he said. The framework categories are climate, energy, economic development, land use, leadership, mobility, municipal operations, sustainable communities, water and waste and recycling, he said, and within each of these categories are goals that include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting innovation and a competitive workforce, advancing renewable energy, sustaining a robust urban forest, working collaboratively towards a sustainable region, supporting safe and effective active transportation, operating a safe, clean and efficient fleet, promoting cultural vibrancy, diverting waste from landfills and managing water system assets sustainably. Not everything in the framework will apply to Fargo, he said; however, it is a start. Fargo can lead, act and encourage its neighbors and other municipalities who will see that Fargo has taken the torch and is going forward. Schools, volunteers, colleges and interested groups can participate in the plan to create and maintain a self-sustaining community and to encourage future generations.
In response to a question from Ms. Gramig asking if these measures are implemented, will it avert some of the worst effects of climate change, Mr. Jensen said his feeling is to go ahead and implement measures to mitigate and talk about how to cope with the coming changes. If the outlook is that no matter what is done it is not going to change anything, that is not true, it is similar to the voting process where every vote counts. There are things that can be done in the interim, including taking notice of what nature itself can do to help mitigate the global climate crisis. It will hurt to make changes to the dependency on various sources of energy, he said; however, eventually people will find a way to overcome. He said he would like to see more nuclear power, which can be managed easier than phosphate-based fuels. Answers are needed on mitigating CO2 emissions, he said, and when he looks at plans with CO2 sequestration, he does not see a technical solution that works.
Mayor Mahoney said in the North Dakota Legislature, the majority are not pushing clean energy; however, 85 percent of people under age 30 believe climate change is an issue and think government should do something. In the western part of the country there are a lot more people pushing it; however, in Fargo and in North Dakota it is an uphill push due to the fact that oil and gas revenue is so much a part of budgets and city governments.
Mr. Jensen said climate change is data and whether someone believes in it or not, it is hard facts and the facts say climate change is real and something has to be done. He said CO2 is a pollutant, like throwing trash out the door. If someone is producing a product and burning something to make it, it is causing pollution he said. This summer when all the smoke from wildfires was in the area, he said, if someone wanted to know what the air quality was for North Dakota they could not find out due to the fact that there are no air quality monitors in the State. He said people are told North Dakota has the cleanest air in the country; however, there is no way to prove it.
Mr. Gruchalla said when he served in the ND Legislature he served on industry, business and labor committees for four sessions and that is where all the big bills go for the big projects. He said coal and oil lobbyists were there every day telling people what they should do and what bills to introduce. He said when groups such as the Sierra Club or the Badlands Conservation Alliance came in they were laughed at and shunned. He said that mentality has to change and groups such as C.L.E.A.N do not have the capability of putting full-time lobbyists in the Legislature. He said a big movement is needed and by starting local, perhaps Fargo can lead the charge.
Inspections Director Bruce Taralson said the grand plan is overwhelming and is a lot of data; however, it can happen by chipping away in small pieces. He said when the energy code was pushed, the City did it and has been doing it ever since and embraces it now even though it was foreign to the City in 2009. He said now the City is backing it and pushing it and keeping it going and actually making it better due to the fact that the City did a little bit every cycle to get to full compliance.
In response to a question regarding the number of fast chargers in North Dakota, Mr. Jensen said Fargo has several, the City of Hillsboro has one and there are chargers in Minot, Grand Forks and Bismarck.
Mr. Gruchalla said there will be carbon charges in the near future and he has seen many presentations and interviews with global leaders who talk about $70 to $80 per metric ton, which means everything produced will have a carbon charge of some kind and money is the motivator to make a change. He said if it costs money, people will be going to do everything to save money and the creativity will start to flow.
Mr. Grubb said he would go through the lists in the framework and see how many boxes he can check as to things already being done in Fargo and see if there may be some other areas to work on. He said carbon offsets were a thing about 15 years ago and the City joined the Chicago Climate Exchange and was a broker for carbon offsets and at that time the City was collecting landfill gas and metering it, proving its destruction and offsetting carbon emissions. He said those carbon offsets had great value to Fargo and he was shocked when large deposits for those offsets were deposited in the City's bank account from the Exchange. He said Fargo was chasing carbon offsets before it was cool.
Mr. Strand said C.L.E.A.N.’s influence will permeate into the SRC’s actions and he hopes they stay close and help lead. He said it will not be easy in a State that is so fueled by carbon energies.
SRC Sponsorship of Reusable Bag Project
Mr. Grubb said one of the other initiatives the City has been involved with is the F-M Plastic Bag Task Force who had an idea for a project to hand out reusable bags in grocery stores on Plastic Bag Free Day; however, due to COVID-19, those plans have changed. He said the plan now would be to have fifth graders from participating schools come up with an artwork design for the bags that depicts what they have learned about recycling and the winning design would be printed on reusable bags. The cost for 1,000 bags is about $2,800.00 and Commissioner Strand has asked if the City would be interested in being a sponsor for this initiative. He said he thought it be a great opportunity for the SRC to be the sponsor for this project and it is not a lot of money and if this committee thought that would be a good idea to get the SRC’s name out there, he would like to see the committee’s name printed on the bag and he would try and find the money. He said Darla Lewandowski is the Plastic Bag Task Force coordinator and he is supportive of what she is doing and he is hoping the committee will be as well.
Ms. Lewandowski said during the Plastic Bag Free Day, the reusable bags will be given to each participating student who can take them home and their families can use them. She said the Plastic Bag Task Force is a local group who educates the public on plastic bags and why they are bad. She said they did a bag collection pilot program at local drop sites, which was very successful, and every year they do a cleanup and organize vendors and sponsors to help give prizes and encourage students to talk with their families at home and to not use plastic bags.
Mr. Grubb said the City started collecting recyclables in 1989 and quickly found out the most effective way to get people aware of recycling is to teach it to a child at school and send them home with that idea.
Mr. Strand said he had the opportunity to work with the task force in Moorhead and Clay County a few years ago and helped bring the leaders of the grocers association to the table. He said there are now plastic bag recycling units in grocery stores.
Commissioner Strand moved to have the City and the SRC sponsor the 5th grade reusable bag project. Second by Mr. Grubb. There was unanimous approval.
Blake Mikesell, Fargo School District, said if there is a funding gap, he would be happy to help fund the project.
Next meeting:
Mr. Strand said the next meeting will be held in November and a Doodle poll will be sent out to members to determine a date and time.
Adjourn:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:58 p.m.