Bellevue moves to cut global warming

The city of Bellevue this year will calculate the air pollution produced by its employees, residents and businesses, all part of an effort to fight global warming.

The study is the first move in a plan to cut the city's greenhouse-gas emissions, a strategy that could include planting trees, promoting sustainable construction, recycling more and educating residents.

The City Council approved the plan last week after considering a similar resolution from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Both plans include a target of reducing emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels in the next five years, but there also are key differences.

The climate-protection agreement, signed by 400 mayors, is longer and includes statements that global warming is man-made and that governments around the country should cut emissions.

Bellevue's plan does not include some strategies outlined in the mayors' agreement, such as recovering landfill methane and installing energy-efficient lighting.

Some council members said they were concerned the mayors' agreement was too broad and political. At the meeting last week, Councilman Don Davidson said the city shouldn't "arbitrarily go with some movement in the country."

"I'd like to control our own destiny," he added. Bellevue is one of the few major cities in the Seattle area to not sign the mayors' agreement. Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Redmond, Kirkland, Renton, Lynnwood, Edmonds, Lake Forest Park, Shoreline, Auburn, Burien, Issaquah and Sammamish have all signed on.

Some Bellevue council members said there's little difference between the mayors' and the city's global-warming plans.

"I don't know why some people got hung up on the symbolism," Mayor Grant Degginger said. "In substance, our commitment is to implement the essence of the [mayors'] agreement."

Davidson and Councilmen Phil Noble and Conrad Lee voted against signing the mayors' agreement last week. Degginger, Councilman John Chelminiak and Councilwoman Claudia Balducci voted yes. Councilwoman Connie Marshall was absent.

Davidson and Lee also voted against Bellevue's global-warming plan, with the other four members in attendance voting yes.

After the city calculates its emissions this year, the City Council will decide how to cut pollution. The city probably will focus on cutting emissions from city operations, not the activities of residents, Chelminiak said.

The city's global-warming plan is part of a much larger strategy to consolidate existing environmental projects and add new ones. The City Council decided to create an environmental-stewardship program last year, after passing updated laws to protect environmentally critical areas.

The council is set to discuss the stewardship program in April and approve it this summer.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com