Merced looks to build a green path to the future

The Merced City Council agreed to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the adoption of a climate action plan Tuesday.

The city's Planning Department prepared the community-based plan, a document that would "set achievable greenhouse gas reduction targets for the community," according to Bill King, principal planner for the city.

"It does this by establishing objectives, strategies and actions to reduce greenhouse gases," he said.

The plan would benefit the city -- already riddled by high air pollution levels -- by providing environmental sustainability in the form of strategies and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

For example, King said one action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could be how the city designs communities in respect of land use location, design of street sidewalks and bike lanes "so people have realistic options of moving relatively short distances without the need of a vehicle."

In doing this, he said there are also other benefits such as reducing the flow of trash sent to the landfill through recycling efforts. He said another benefit of the future plan would be water conservation and being able to utilize water long-term.

Lastly, he said the City Council would select the greenhouse gas emission target. He said a greenhouse gas emission target identifies how much of a reduction of greenhouse gases the city wants to achieve.

Merced will most likely set its target by the beginning of next year, according to Councilwoman Mary-Michal Rawling.

"Merced is within the San Joaquin Valley air basin, which is an extreme nonattainment," said Rawling, who is also program manager at the Merced/Mariposa County Asthma Coalition.

A nonattainment area is an area of the country where air pollution levels persistently exceed the national ambient air quality standards, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"There are various levels of nonattainment that you can be titled with. Extreme is the worst," she said. "The cities in the Valley usually duke it out with the cities down south on the worst air in the nation on an annual basis."

Rawling added there hasn't been much improvement in Merced in the past five years.

"As a result, people have allergies and asthma," she said. "One in five kids have asthma in Merced."

King said the plan would also allow staff to solicit input from the community in the form of a short-term, temporary advisory committee. King said he will go back to the City Council in early December to have them confirm members of the committee. Currently, he said there is no posting for committee membership on the city's website. The City Council accepted grant funds from the federal Department of Energy in November last year to undertake projects to increase energy efficiency, according to the report. One of the projects was the drafting of the climate action plan.

Reporter Ameera Butt can be reached at (209) 385-2477 or abutt@mercedsun-star.com.