07/24/2007

Editorial

County board on board: Being efficient is good

It really doesn't matter whether you believe dinosaurs drove expensive foreign cars or that you can e-mail the sun or that Jimmy Carter is a socialist. A buck is a buck.

And if Grand Traverse County can save a few by consuming less energy, that's a good thing — even if it means reducing greenhouse gases in the process.

County commissioners, just a few weeks after a few of them offered unique views on global warming, voted 7-2 last week to put saving tax dollars ahead of their own global climate beliefs. That's a good thing, too.

In April, commissioners made headlines here and elsewhere by sharing their views on the state of the environment and the concept of global warming. When a board committee was asked to endorse a U.S. Conference of Mayors agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, county residents were treated to commissioner Margaret Underwood's world view.

"I believe the Sierra Club, along with Al Gore, President Carter and the United Nations are socialistic organizations ... and I am opposed to everything they support ...” she said.

If Gore believes reducing greenhouse gases is good, then, she wants an increase, apparently. And who knew greenhouse gases were socialist?

The Conference of Mayor's agreement also called for some money-saving efforts but those got largely swept aside in the tide of anti-global warming feelings. Commissioners Dick Thomas, Herb Lemcool and Bruce Hooper asked county administrator Dennis Aloia to research the emissions reduction idea and report back.

Last week, the board put more stock in saving money than hating Al Gore and voted 7-2 to join Traverse City in a $40,000 contract to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions analysis and adopt new standards for both the city and county. The county is expected to pay about half the cost.

Board chairman Addison "Sonny” Wheelock had opined in April that since the dinosaurs didn't drive luxury cars at a time the Earth was warming, cars can't be the cause now. This time, it was all about the money.

"To me this is just a business decision; it has to do with reducing our energy costs,” Wheelock said. "The environmental aspects are a separate discussion and I don't have any comment on global warming — period.” That's another good thing.

Others held firm. Underwood said that while she favored performing an analysis she wasn't buying the rest. She voted no.

"I have a hard time with the idea people and the things they do will destroy the earth through the religion of global warming,” she said.

A socialist religion? What's next?

The important thing is that the city and county will look for ways to be more efficient, and being more efficient is a good way to not only save money but reduce greenhouse emissions. That's a very good thing.