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Morgantown Councilman: Paris Accord is practical, not political

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Stop calling it political: that’s the message from Third Ward City Councilman Ryan Wallace on the Morgantown City Council’s recent interest in joining the Paris Climate Accords.

“Speaking for myself, no, this is not a political statement as much as it is a common sense, proactive, and responsible step towards making Morgantown cost efficient and sustainable,” Wallace said Wednesday on Morgantown AM.

The Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday night resulted in the advancement of Morgantown’s official recognition of the Paris Climate Accords to a first reading at the next City Council meeting.

“I don’t think that the Paris Climate Agreement name makes it political,” Wallace said. “Some people probably will. It may be perhaps a handy device, an easily recognized device, for labeling the school of thought of being climate friendly.”

Based on presentations at Tuesday night’s meeting, Wallace said the City of Morgantown will be able to use this to springboard to a cleaner and more energy efficient city that will ultimately save taxpayers money.

“I think a good example is the city lighting we have right now,” Wallace said. “Definitely time for an upgrade on that. We have these old, I think, high-pressure sodium lamps that suck a lot of energy, and we’d do better with some high efficiency LED lighting.”

Additionally, Wallace suggested retrofitting city buildings to meet greener energy initiatives, replacing city vehicles with higher efficiency vehicles through attrition, and offering contracts that further provide incentive to businesses to emphasize green initiatives.

“We as the City of Morgantown will strive to meet the objectives as best we can,” he said. “Do what we can to reduce climate change, to reduce the temperature increase, and join about 300 cities across the nation now that have joined this Paris Climate Accord.”

Wallace did add that the power of City Council is limited in a number of regards, but increased focus on these standards will spread to other areas of the city. The right combination of moves could lead to a 26 percent reduction in the city’s emissions by 2025, according to Wallace.

“We can’t dictate, but we can encourage businesses through our city contracts,” he said. “We can encourage them to adopt eco-friendly and energy efficient programs as well.”

Wallace is one of five recently-inaugurated Council members on the seven-person Council following the election in April.

The next regular meeting of the Morgantown City Council is Tuesday, August 1 at 7 p.m.





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