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| By Courtney Llewellyn Reminder Assistant Editor LONGMEADOW It's budget season again. With so much focus on the FY09 budget where the money is going, how it's being spent, if it's being spent properly it can be easy to forget last Thursday was the first day of a different season spring. As spring slowly comes to life in the Pioneer Valley, residents will notice how their towns turn green. Rebecca Townsend, an active member of Longmeadow's Community Preservation Committee and a liaison between the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) and the Select Board, wants to see her town go green in another fashion. Townsend and Catherine Miller, Principal Planner/Section Manager of the PVPC's Community Environment/Land Use Department, were to appear before the Select Board during their March 17 meeting but public comments on the proposed budget for the next fiscal year cancelled their appointment. They will not have the opportunity to meet with the board again to discuss the Pioneer Valley Clean Energy Plan until May 5. However, Townsend wanted to ensure the other residents of Longmeadow knew the details of the Clean Energy Plan before that date. "The Select Board received a letter from the PVPC explaining the plan and a memorandum of agreement about a month ago, but decided to table their discussion of it at that time," Townsend explained. She said 22 other cities and towns in the Pioneer Valley have already voted in favor of the Clean Energy Plan, including nearby East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Hampden, Westfield and Holyoke. "They are supporting what over 900 members of the public helped to create," Townsend added. The 55-page plan outlines four major goals for each community in the Pioneer Valley: to reduce energy use, replace fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create local jobs. "As the PVPC notes, the time for action was yesterday," Townsend stated. "Because this is such a big issue, a sense of powerlessness can lead to inaction but it is imperative that we act now." If the Select Board chooses to sign the memorandum of agreement, Townsend said it will not incur any extra costs for the town. It will align the town's goals with those of other communities. "The Pioneer Valley region is facing serious problems as a result of rising energy costs and climate change," the memorandum stated. "Residents of the municipalities in the Pioneer Valley have strongly and clearly expressed their desire to take action to combat climate change." The memorandum asks those signing it to consider implementing recommendations from the PVPC, including conducting energy audits, adopting bylaws to give incentives encouraging green buildings and energy efficiency, purchasing clean energy and forming an Energy Committee. "Signing the memorandum would be very consistent with what Longmeadow has done so far," Townsend noted. The goal of the Clean Energy Plan is to bring energy use levels back to what they were in 2000 by 2009, and then drop those rates by another 15 percent by 2010. Townsend said these goals could be reached by doing little things. She lauded the town on replacing streetlights with lower-energy LED lights as one way it is thinking green. "After we were fined by the DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] for dumping sewage into the Connecticut River, there was a wake-up call," she said. "We needed to go green." The recent spikes in water bills also served as a wake-up call for some residents. Holes in lines can now be repaired and water conservation can take place. While water isn't included in the Clean Energy Plan, Townsend said she thought it was an important issue as well. "Climate Change A 'Green' Workshop" will be hosted by Andrea Nager Chasen, Assistant Regional Director for The Climate Change Project of Western Massachusetts, on March 27 at 7 p.m. at Baypath College. Townsend touted the free workshop as important event for those interested in going green. Chasen was trained by Al Gore, the force behind "An Inconvenient Truth," in the Climate Project. She said she'll be introducing some of the science about global warming at her workshop as well as what Longmeadow is doing to understand its impact on the earth. She agreed with Townsend that the little things truly make a difference. In the last six months, Longmeadow has saved $49,089 by recycling 1,201 tons of reusable items, according to Chasen. "You have to understand that everything you do makes a difference," she added. "Massachusetts will benefit because of Longmeadow's commitment to clean energy," she said. "Agreeing on clean energy is our future." To view the entire Pioneer Valley Clean Energy Plan, visit http://pvpc.org/activities/Landuse/landuse-cleanenrgy.shtml. |