Board of Supervisors Decision

On Tuesday September 18, 2007, the Amador County Board of Supervisors rejected the invitation from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to join in signing the U.S. Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration (Global Warming Declaration). The vote was 3-2 against signing the declaration and in favor of common sense. We would like to thank Supervisors Escamillia, Forster and Oneto for their decision.

Declaration Text

We encourage you to read the text  of the rejected declaration. The declaration would require the county to:

• create an inventory of county government greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• reduce county GHG emissions by 80% by 2050 (with some ambiguity due to the very poor wording of the paragraph), and
• urge Congress and the Administration to strengthen standards by enacting legislation

In short: more spending, regulations and additional levels of bureaucracy - how come we are not surprised?

Ledger Dispatch Newspaper Coverage

The following are articles published in the local newspaper regarding the decision by the Board of Supervisors:

Maybe it's the Central Valley smog drifting its way up Highway 49, but something in this county stinks.The board of supervisors last month decided against joining a national county initiative to combat climate change to the chagrin of … well, just about no one. Supervisors based their decision, in part, on the position that the existence of global warming remains in doubt. PDF>>

'Cool county' converts hope supes will revisit initiative
Ledger Dispatch
Oct 12, 2007

Scott Haggerty used to be a skeptic.The Alameda County supervisor and registered Republican wasn't always certain global warming was a legitimate crisis, at least notuntil a convincing PowerPoint presentation and his own kids changed his mind. But after Will Travis of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission made his pitch to the fellow dad, Haggerty was a skeptic no longer. PDF>>

'Cool County' issue stirs up controversy, supes vote 3-2 to deny resolution
Ledger Dispatch
Sep 20, 2007

Almost no one spoke up Tuesday in favor of a proposal that Amador County join Alameda and other counties in the nation in becoming a "Cool County." Noting that the proposal for the county to jump on the anti-global-warming bandwagon had stirred up "quite a bit of controversy," Board Supervisor Louis Boitano, District 4, said he didn't even know how many e-mails he had received on the issue. PDF>>

What's Next?

We will continue to monitor the developments regarding Global Warming, generally as well as locally.

Board of Supervisors
Louis Boitano 
Richard Escamilla  
Richard Forster  
Ted Novelli 
Brian Oneto 

(Note: the motion was to decline signing the declaration)

Judge yourself! Download the text of the rejected declaration.