The state budget approved this week includes a $300,000 line item in the Department of Environmental Protection for a grant program to help municipalities establish greenhouse gas action plans.

The funding is designed to implement House Bill 334 (Vitali-D-Delaware) that is now pending in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

Under the bill, greenhouse gas inventories would establish how much greenhouse gas is produced by each sector of a community -- municipal, industrial, commercial, residential, etc. -- and provide a baseline against which to measure future greenhouse gas reduction efforts. The action plans would lay out strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across those sectors, as well as specific targets to be reached.

“This $300,000 appropriation will fund about 15 local climate change action plans,” Rep. Vitali said. “I’m hoping this will serve as a pilot program and that the program will be greatly expanded in the future.”

Rep. Vital said last year he helped his own community, Haverford Township, obtain a $30,000 grant through the state Department of Community and Economic Development’s Community Revitalization Program to establish a greenhouse gas action plan and inventory. Haverford Township is currently negotiating a contract with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives for help with the project.

Rep. Vitali and Sen. Erickson (R-Delaware) are also working on legislation (House Bill 110 and Senate Bill 266) to require the state of Pennsylvania to develop its own climate change action plan.

“Climate change is the most important environmental problem facing the planet,” Rep. Vitali said. “It must be addressed at every level.”

The budget also included a $300,000 cut in funds for the Chesapeake Bay Education Program.

Links: PA Environmental Council Unveils Stakeholder-Driven Climate Change Roadmap

Governor Delays Climate Proposal, DCNR Continues Work on Carbon Strategy

7/20/2007