Seacoast NRG

A lack of leadership and commitment from the Bush administration has not prevented Portsmouth, New Hampshire from joining the growing number of cities and towns around the world that have formally pledged to take action to mitigate global warming. 

In signing two resolutions last week, Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand joined the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and committed Portsmouth to joining the Cities for Climate Protection (CPC) Campaign.  Both resolutions were unanimously approved by the Portsmouth City Council at its November 13 meeting.

In enacting these resolutions, Mr. Marchand became the sixth New Hampshire mayor to sign the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Act, which was initiated and is being led by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.  Nationwide, 330 mayors in 47 states have signed, including the mayors of New Hampshire cities Keene, Dover, Hanover, Nashua and Manchester.  Through these resolutions Portsmouth also became the first Seacoast community–and only the third in the state, after Keene and Nashua–to join the CCP Campaign.  The CCP Campaign is a program led by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) to work toward climate protection by helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the local level.  ICLEI is comprised of more than 475 local, regional and national governments, representing nearly 300 million people worldwide.

Although the Bush administration backed away from signing the international Kyoto Protocol, the signatory communities of the CPC Campaign each have pledged to take steps to meet or exceed the Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution.  For Portsmouth, one of the first steps will be to inventory global warming emissions in city operations and in the community, then to set reduction targets and create an action plan.

Portsmouth has already taken a number of related initiatives, including mandatory curbside recycling, adopting an anti-idling policy for city vehicles, establishing a goal of having city vehicles use bio-diesel fuel, building a new “green” library with a goal of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and working to design a new wastewater facility with energy-efficient motors.

Mr. Marchand also formed a Blue Ribbon Committee on Sustainability to examine ways in which Portsmouth can function in a more sustainable manner.  One of the first recommendations of the Committee was to work collaboratively with other communities, both around the country and around the world, toward climate protection.