1. Chittenden County Climate Action Planning CCRPC Board Presentation February 15, 2012 Julie Potter, Senior Planner

2. Objectives  Review CCRPC’s recent Energy, Air Quality, Climate Action Planning activities  Highlight findings of draft Chittenden County Climate Change Trends and Impacts report  Highlight contents of Best Practices report  Next steps for climate action planning  Questions & answers

3. UPWP Task 2.2.3.2  Multi-year program in UPWP  Transportation Environmental Planning: Energy, Air Quality and Climate Action Planning  Identify policies and actions that will help the region reduce energy consumption, air pollution and global warming

4. Building on Air Quality Study  2010 report: Keeping Our Air Clean  Research on air quality issues for the region  Implications of ozone non-attainment  Identify strategies to improve air quality

5. Air Quality Strategies Local and regional strategies for:  Transportation  Land use  Energy conservation  Energy efficiency Strategies grouped by implementer:  Individuals  Employers  Municipalities  CCRPC

6. Major Air Quality Findings  Ozone concentrations are partly due to pollution from mid-west power plants and partly due local emissions  Major local sources: vehicles, solvent use, residential wood combustion, fossil fuel combustion  Air quality and climate change are linked through fossil fuel consumption  Recommendation to develop a climate action plan

7. Building on All Hazard Mitigation Plan  Hazards identification  Risk assessment  Vulnerability analysis  Mitigation strategies  Top hazards all related to, or aggravated by predicted climate change impacts.

8. Climate Change and Our Region  In-house review of how climate change is affecting our region  Tied-in with ECOS Plan  Draft report for public comment  Finalize in April

9. Key Climate Trend Findings

10.  Key climate indicators show change over the past 30+ years  Increased annual and seasonal temperatures  Decreased lake ice cover  Longer growing season  Increased precipitation, but less snow  Climate models indicate continued trends over this century, with more extreme weather  Our climate will become like the Mid-Atlantic

11. Impacts: Environment & Natural Resources  Air quality will deteriorate  More spring flooding and low summer stream flows  Impacts to water quality and aquatic species  Change in forest type and impacts to forest species

12. Impacts: Public Health  Increased risk of heat stress  Increase risk of flooding injuries and deaths  Increased risk of vector-borne diseases  Increased pollen results in more seasonal allergies and asthma  Increased ozone leads to more respiratory illness

13. Impacts: Built Environment  Infrastructure damage along flood- prone shorelines, rivers and streams  Transportation system disruption and damage: culverts, roads, railways, bridges  Water supply and wastewater system damage and water quality problems; summer well water shortages  Increased summer electricity demand for cooling  Power outages from storms, high demand

14. Impacts: Local Economy  Flood damage to crop lands, summer droughts  Heat stress reduces dairy yield  Heat decreases apple, grape, berry yields  Spread of weeds, insect pests and diseases  Warmer temperatures hurt maple sugar production  Autumn tourism and winter recreation negatively affected

15. Climate Action Planning  2012 TranSystems report: Climate/Energy/Air Quality Planning Best Practices Review and Summary  Modeling tools for greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories  Best practices from states, regions, cities  Compilation of strategies to reduce GHGs

16. Next Steps  Conduct regional GHG emissions inventory  Climate action plan for mitigation (reduce GHG emissions) and adaptation (reduce impacts from climate change)  Advisory committees to guide these tasks  Work products to be incorporated into the ECOS Plan

17. Questions?