Boulder council to consider climate goals, carbon tax

Jan 28 - Daily Camera, Colo.

Whether the city should revamp its approach to addressing climate change -- including whether to extend an expiring tax to pay for related programs -- is among the questions facing the Boulder City Council this week.

City leaders are scheduled to hold a study session Tuesday night to discuss the city's "Energy Future" project to start a municipal utility, the future of the city's climate-related goals and a possible extension of the Climate Action Plan tax.

According to a recent city document, a newly formed multi-department team will "begin an evaluation and planning process that will engage the Boulder community around a vision for future (greenhouse gas) emissions reductions."

The effort is being called "CAP 2.0."

The project is expected to create goals for the next phase of the city's Climate Action Plan, including how the plan fits in with the city's efforts to start a municipal electric utility.

"It's a very critical time of deciding what we want our future to look like," said Sarah Huntley, a city spokeswoman.

The city in 2002 adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Now that 2012 has arrived, the city still needs to cut the equivalent of about 521,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide to meet its goal.

"It's not quite as easy as we thought," Huntley said.

She said that CAP 2.0 would include a comprehensive look at what the city has achieved in its climate efforts, what has worked well, what hasn't worked and what areas the city hasn't yet tried to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the big questions looming over the City Council is whether to ask voters this fall to extend the Climate Action Plan tax -- which was approved by voters in 2006 and is set to expire in March 2013.

The tax, which is also known as the carbon tax and is collected by Xcel Energy on utility bills, generates about $1 million per year for city programs aimed at addressing climate change.

Perhaps the most well known and successful of those programs is EnergySmart, a joint effort by the city and Boulder County that provides energy audits and encourages homeowners and businesses to make energy-efficiency upgrades.

Huntley touted that program as being "incredibly helpful and successful," but she said EnergySmart likely would not survive if the CAP tax isn't renewed.

"We know that energy and energy efficiency is one area where we can make the most dramatic reduction" in greenhouse gas emissions, Huntley said. "It would be very difficult for us to continue to make progress" without those programs.

She said the council could decide to take the money to pay for EnergySmart or other programs from the city's general fund, but she said that would require some "very difficult" tradeoffs.

Some of the key questions for the council will be whether to put a tax extension on the ballot this fall, how it would work within the effort to start a municipal utility and whether other potential ballot measures make asking voters to pass a tax this year politically difficult.

Councilwoman Suzanne Jones, who also is the regional director for The Wilderness Society, said she wants to see the city continue to address greenhouse gas emissions while work continues on municipalization.

"I think it's important to figure out how best to move forward on energy efficiency and conservation fronts, even while we are looking at the issue of municipalization," she said. "We need to keep doing what we can to meet Kyoto, even if we're going to be a few years late."

If the council does decide to take the CAP tax back to voters this fall, the measure would come one year after Boulder voters narrowly approved increasing and extending a utility occupation tax -- which is passed on to customers by Xcel Energy -- to pay for some of the legal and engineering fees associated with municipalization.

Jones said the timing of the energy-related ballot measures is an important consideration for the council, but she thinks the city could convince voters to pass a renewed CAP tax this year.

"I think we have a very engaged and informed citizenry," she said. "If we decide it makes sense to go forward, we could make the case clear."

The city's Environmental Advisory Board in December wrote a letter to the council urging the leaders to carefully consider the future of the CAP tax.

"We think it's important to demonstrate to the taxpayers benefits that the CAP tax has provided up to now," said Bill Roettker, a member of the advisory board.

Fellow board member Stephen Morgan said he personally wants to see any tax extension used to support projects that have measurable results.

"There should be a substantial return on investment," he said. "If there isn't, then we should postpone it."

Morgan said he hopes the council will also wait to hear specific proposals from staffers before deciding on whether to send the tax to voters.

"I think (climate change) is a huge issue that's facing us, not just in Boulder but the whole country," he said. "We can't shy away from big problems because they're big. I think difficult problems have answers, and it's for the best and the brightest to stand up and find out what those answers are."

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.

History of Boulder's Climate Action Plan tax

2002 -- The City Council adopts the Kyoto goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels

November 2006 -- Voters approve the CAP tax, making Boulder the first city in the country to tax itself for greenhouse gas emissions

April 2007 -- Xcel Energy begins charging the CAP tax to Boulder residents and businesses

July 2009 -- The City Council increases the CAP tax to the maximum level approved by voters

Tuesday -- The City Council is scheduled to hold a study session to discuss the future of the CAP tax

March 2013 -- The current CAP tax is scheduled to expire ------

If you go

What: Boulder City Council study session

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Boulder Municipal Building, 1777 Broadway

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