Dallas Signs Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement
Press Release by the Houston Climate Protection Alliance, May 2006
Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, has signed the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement reports Laura Fiffick, Director of the Office of Environmental Quality for the City of Dallas. By signing, Dallas pledged to adopt energy efficiency techniques, to meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution, and to urge Congress to pass climate protection legislation.
So far, 235 U.S. mayors have signed, including six of the nation’s top ten largest cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, and San Jose. The US Conference of Mayors unanimously passed this agreement on June 13, 2005. Since then mayors have formalized their commitment by individually signing on to the agreement. (see http://www.seattle.gov )
Louis Smith, co-facilitator of Houston Climate Protection Alliance, said “It is good news that Dallas has joined Austin, Laredo and the cluster of North Texas cities of Denton, Euless, Hurst, and McKinney in pledging to help stabilize the climate. The bad news is, after suffering heavy losses from Katrina and Rita, insurance companies are concerned that global warming will put them out of business. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has set up a task force to study climate change. They follow the lead of two huge global reinsurance companies, Munich Re and Swiss Re, who advocate climate protection. To our nearby areas which are most vulnerable to hurricanes, this means that homeowners’ insurance rates are going up or their policies are being dropped.”
Geoffrey Castro, executive director of Citizen’s League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN), said "The Mayor of Houston shares our goal of making Houston a leader in energy efficiency and clean energy. It says a lot that so many cities around the country and in Texas have signed the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement.” In 2005, CLEAN sent Mayor White of Houston a letter in 2005 asking him to sign the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement. White responded with a letter outlining his air quality plan for 2006 which included taking an inventory of carbon dioxide emissions. www.CleanHouston.org
The Mayors pledge to adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, and create compact, walkable urban communities. David Crossley of Gulf Coast Institute said "The amazing thing is that this set of policies that would not only reduce the greenhouse emissions, but also makes cities more competitive on the global stage while improving quality of life. What's not to like about that?" www.livablehouston.org
Julia Jorgensen, Global Warming Task Force Chair for Houston Sierra Club said "It is wonderful to see Dallas joining progressive cities all over the country in making policies to protect its citizens and its economy from climate change.”
Houston Climate Protection Alliance asks citizens to sign personal pledges to protect the climate. It asks them to start by adopting energy efficiency measures and to switch to clean energy, for example, buy electricity from renewable energy. To determine if your electricity supplier offers this option, you can use Mayor White’s website www.HoustonConsumerChoice.com. HCPA urges folks to recycle to protect the climate. HCPA asks folks to reduce transportation emissions by using alternative transportation, carpooling, driving less, or getting a more energy efficient vehicle. HCPA informs folks that they can offset their remaining climate disrupting emissions by either helping others save energy or by buying carbon offsets from online retailers. HCPA asks folks to ask their elected officials, family, and friends to join them in climate protection. www.HoustonClimateProtection.org
