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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 249 Draft 01 2008-2010 J~SV Os M1~1 COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII Of N? RESOLUTION NO. 249 09 A RESOLUTION DECLARING THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I'S COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES BY SETTING A PATH TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICIES DEVELOPED BY THE MAYOR'S GREEN TEAM. WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii and its operations have a huge impact on the island economy, community and the environment, with over 2,650 employees, it is the second biggest employer in Hawaii County. It maintains over 926.75 miles of streets and highways, occupies over 1.1 million square feet of office and building space, maintains 286.4 acres of parks and burns over: • 1.5 million gallons of fuel to run its 953 County vehicles (including 53 buses and 7 hybrid vehicles); • Consumed 76,237,916 kWh of electrical power in 2008 or approximately 7% of the island's total use; and WHEREAS, The County of Hawaii in fiscal year 2007-2008 spent: • $4,195,863.06 in electricity use for buildings and facilities; • $1,401,105.00 in electricity use for traffic signals and street lights; • $17,936,933.31 in electricity use to maintain county water delivery services; • $7,041,511.77 in fuels and maintenance of 953 vehicles; • $32,898,698.00 to manage 296,526 tons of garbage; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii is both consumer and steward of our Island community and its resources and should encourage cost savings measures that minimize the County's impact on the land to ensure the needs of tomorrow can be met; and WHEREAS, if the County of Hawaii makes 20% efficiency gains in its electricity and fuel use for facilities, street lights, water services, and vehicle use, the County could save approximately $6,515,082.00 in tax payer money annually; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii has adopted the County of Hawaii Energy Sustainability Plan which calls for reducing our reliance on imported energy; and WHEREAS, global reserves of oil and natural gas are finite and sufficient substitutes are unlikely to be available in the immediate future; and WHEREAS, U.S. oil and natural gas production have peaked and are now in decline, ensuring our nation's continued and growing dependence on oil and natural gas imported from politically unstable regions; and WHEREAS, a growing body of energy industry experts believe that the world has already arrived at, or will soon arrive at, the peak of global oil production, which will be followed by an inevitable decline in available supply thereafter; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii and its citizens and businesses depend on oil and natural gas for their economic welfare and their most critical activities, including transportation and food supply; and WHEREAS, Hawaii Island spent $750,000,000.00 on imported energy in 2007; and WHEREAS, a large majority of money spent on fossil fuels leaves Hawaii Island and provides no local economic benefit, while many of the solutions to lessening dependence on fossil fuels result in local jobs and substantial economic benefits; and WHEREAS, energy consumption, specifically the burning of fossil fuels, accounts for more than 80 percent of the United'States' greenhouse gas emissions; and WHEREAS, reducing use of oil and natural gas also reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary cause of climate change; and WHEREAS, in 2007, the Hawaii State Legislature passed and Governor Lingle signed into law Act 234, which establishes a statewide policy for greenhouse gas emission limits at or below the statewide greenhouse gas emission levels in 1990 to be achieved by January 1, 2020; and WHEREAS, local government actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency provide multiple local benefits by decreasing air pollution, creating jobs, reducing energy expenditures, and saving money for the local government, its businesses and its residents; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii became the 500th member in United States to join International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) - Local Governments for Sustainability and become a partner in the Cities for Climate Protection® Campaign; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii has adopted a Zero Waste Resolution and Zero Waste Implementation Plan which calls for reducing, reusing and recycling our resources and creating green jobs; and 2 WHEREAS, the Energy Advisory Commission established pursuant to Article 11, section 4-4 of the Hawaii County Charter presented policy recommendations that propose reducing fossil fuel use in: Water Supply and Use; Transportation and Biofuels; Building; Utilities; and Sustainability Planning; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii has demonstrated its concern for a sustainable community through plans and policies that promote cleaner air and water, reduce energy and water use, promote recycling and solid waste management, reduce the use of the automobile and related air pollution, embrace citizen participation, and encourage the development of affordable housing; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii recently adopted four Community Development Plans as ordinances, developed through 20,401 hours or 850 days of public participation through 801 public forums, which call for vision and action towards reducing fossil fuel use through sustainable land use, transportation, and economic development policies; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawai`i's General Plan adopted in 2005 recommends the promotion of sustainable economic development that recognizes the job creation potential of maintaining and enhancing our community's natural resource capital base, and encourages development that reduces adverse effects on the environment; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii published General Plan Annual Report in 2009, which contains 79 indicators on economy, community and environment status of Hawaii Island and plans to update it every year; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii recognizes and accepts its responsibility to support a stable, diverse, and equitable low carbon economy; protect the quality of the air, water, land and other natural resources; conserve native vegetation, fish wildlife habitat and other ecosystems; and minimize human impacts on local and worldwide ecosystems; and WHEREAS, the adoption of four sustainability principles can provide a holistic framework that will assist County employees and elected officials towards a more sustainable direction collectively; and WHEREAS, these sustainability principles are scientifically rigorous, internationally recognized, successfully implemented across the world, and offers concrete and simple ways to accelerate change toward sustainability; WHEREAS, these sustainability principles are reflected as: 1. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of materials (such as fossil fuel and their associated wastes) that are extracted from the earth's crust; 2. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of synthetic materials produced by human society; 3 3. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the ongoing physical degradation of the earth; and 4. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine people's ability to meet their basic needs; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII that the County of Hawaii declares its commitment to sustainability as outlined above and its intent to adopt the sustainability principles and goals by formalizing the County of Hawaii Mayor's Green Team. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County of Hawaii will promote a sustainable future that meets today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, and accepts its responsibility to: • Support a stable, diverse and equitable low carbon economy; • Protect the quality of the air, water, land and other natural resources; • Conserve native vegetation, fish, wildlife habitat and other ecosystems; • Minimize human impacts on local and worldwide ecosystems; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County of Hawaii will incorporate sustainability principles based on rigorous science. The sustainability framework lays out many conditions and methods that will help the County of Hawaii make progress toward sustainability and encourage long term cost savings. To ensure we are moving toward sustainability, the County of Hawaii will take the following steps: • Because resources like fossil fuels, metals and minerals can have adverse effects when they are dispersed and accumulate in our land, air and water, the County will reduce its consumption of materials extracted from the earth's crust. • Because the accumulation of pesticides, fertilizers and other persistent chemicals are harmful to people and the environment, the County will reduce its dependence on these kinds of man-made chemicals. 4 • Because ecosystems take a long time to recover from physical destruction (if they can at all), the County will mitigate its impact through wise land use policies, low-impact maintenance practices and environmentally friendly design. • Because everyone deserves to be healthy and safe, the County will work to ensure safe working and living environments for its residents, visitors and employees. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County of Hawaii will approach decisions about policies, operations and capital improvements in a more systematic way. Using sustainability framework, the County of Hawaii Green Team will: • Work to increase awareness of sustainability among its staff and management. This will provide us with a common language and keep all of us thinking about the impact we have during the course of our daily tasks. • Take an inventory of current efforts that make progress toward sustainability and do a baseline assessment based on the Local Government Operation Protocol (LGOP) to enhance our current efforts and identify additional improvements. • Formulate a vision of what sustainability means for the County of Hawaii and identify short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals and benchmarks necessary to achieve that vision. • Incorporate the awareness and terminology of sustainability into our budget decisions, program administration and project development. To achieve this, the County of Hawaii will ask questions of relevant projects or policies like: • Does this help move the County of Hawaii toward sustainability (even if incrementally)? • Will elements of this project serve as a potential stepping stone toward other changes or initiatives? • Will increased implementation costs yield savings in the long-run or provide a social or environmental return on investment? BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the County Clerk shall forward copies of this resolution to the Honorable Mayor William Kenoi, the Managing Director, the Corporation Counsel, the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the Chief of the Hawaii Fire Department, the Chief of the Hawaii Police Department, the Administrator of Civil Defense, the Administrator of Mass Transit Agency, the Administrator of the Office of Housing and Community Development, the Executive of Aging at the Office of Aging, the Immigration Information Specialist, and to the Directors of the following departments: the Department of Data Systems, the Department of Environmental Management, the Department of Finance, the Department of Human Resources, the Department of Liquor Control, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of 5 Planning, the Department of Public Works, the Department of Research and Development, and the Manager of the Department of Water Supply, and to the Chairpersons of the following County of Hawai'i Boards and Commissions: the Board of Appeals, the Board of Ethics, the Merit Appeals Board, the Water Board, the Civil Service Commission, the Cost of Government Commission, the Energy Advisory Commission, the Environmental Management Commission, the Planning Commission, the Police Commission, and the Salary Commission. Dated at Hila , Hawai'i, this 4th day of NovEmber ,2009. INTRODUCED BY: ~~ COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNTY OF HAW AI'I d-6c2 AYES NOES ABS EX ENRIQUES X FORD X GREENWELL X HOFFMANN X IKEDA X NAEOLE X ONISHI X YAGONG X YOSHIMOTO X c 8 0 1 0 ROLL CALL VOTE COUNTY COUNCIL County ofHawai'i Hilo, Hawai'i I hereby certify that the foregoing RESOLUTION was by the vote indicated to the right hereof adopted by the COUNCIL of the County of Hawai'i on NovEmber 4, 2009 ATTEST: CHAIRPERSON & PRESIDING OFFICER Reference: C-562/FESC':': 2 RESOLUTION NO. 249 09 6