City Council takes up climate change
During meeting, officials direct staff to revise letter that would have asked Congress to support climate
The Santa Clarita City Council voted 4-1 to revise a letter to Rep. Steve Knight and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris asking them to support climate change legislation. Councilman Bob Kellar was the dissenting vote.
After ten residents voiced their opinion during public speaking, the council opted to make revisions highlighting initiatives the city has made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the purchase of 9,500 acres of open space. The revisions will be discussed at the next city council meeting.
Cher Gilmore, group leader of the Santa Clarita chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, said she thought national legislation was “imperative, now.”
“Climate chaos is not something that stops on a dime,” she said.
Councilman Cameron Smyth, who originally put the discussion on the agenda, said he has had talks with Gilmore for about a year about climate change, admitting they came at the issue from different perspectives. Smyth said the letter intentionally did not support specific legislation or program.
“I don’t find that in any way contradictory to my conservative philosophies,” he said. “Clean air, clean water, I don’t know how that’s Republican, Democrat, conservative, progressive, how ever you want to do it.”
Smyth recalled being able to determine whether Hart High School would have football practice by determining if they could see the mountains or if they were blocked by smog, but stopped short of voicing support for specific measures.
“I’m not prepared to endorse a carbon fee, cap and trade, or anything specific like that,” he said.
Councilman Bob Kellar said some actions taken to support clean energy have been “very detrimental” to Santa Clarita, citing solar panels in Canyon Country as “an aberration, over-thetop and no common sense.”
“We’re going to decimate the beauty of our community, but we’ve got solar power,” he said. “Baloney. It doesn’t belong there. It’s wrong.”
Kellar also said costs placed on businesses in California have led to unemployment.
Mayor Laurene Weste, Mayor Pro Tem Marsha McLean and Kellar favored adding Santa Clarita’s accomplishments in reducing emissions to the letter. Smyth later said he also liked putting the city’s actions into the letter.
Councilman Bill Miranda said he was in favor of delaying the letter.
“I’m in favor of revising the letter, sending it under five signatures instead of just one or two and basically tabling this item to the next council meeting,” he said.
After some back-andforth discussion on the protocol of sending the letter, usually involving just the mayor’s signature or all five council members, Smyth said: “Let’s just do the mayor then.”
Weste immediately said: “Oh goodie.”
Smyth responded: “Obligation of leadership, Madame Mayor.”
Weste answered: “Thank you so much, councilman.”
Resident Sally White said Santa Clarita’s climate has been a key factor in the city’s growth.
“It is easy to see that so many of the valued features of our city have a direct connection to maintaining a livable and tolerable climate, which itself has seen changes during these past years,” she said. “We depend upon a stable climate to maintain the standard of living that brought us to Santa Clarita in the first place.”
Logan Smith, who is running for a city council seat, said the city had a chance to further combat climate change, but passed it up.
“I think this is great, but ultimately what we’re doing is kicking the can down the road and saying, ‘Hey federal legislators, you deal with this problem,’ “he said. “We’re a city that could be dealing with this problem right now and I’m perplexed why we would even consider something like this when the council neglected the Dec. 28 deadline for the Los Angeles Community Choice Energy Aggregate, which would have directly led to an impact on greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the Santa Clarita Valley.”
The drafted letter referred to the city’s Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2012, that “identifies mitigation measures that can be quantified and translated into significant reductions made in our community.”
City documents said the Climate Action Plan included: investing in compressed natural gas for transit buses, pushing for LEED Silver certification on new city buildings and preserving open space.
Knight noted in a statement that he joined a bipartisan climate solutions caucus last summer.