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Home My WebLink About12-16-19 Public Comment - G. Findley - Bozeman Climate PlanFrom:agenda@bozeman.net To:Agenda Subject:Thank you for your public comment. Date:Monday, December 16, 2019 8:53:07 PM A new entry to a form/survey has been submitted. Form Name:Public Comment Form Date & Time:12/16/2019 8:53 PM Response #:322 Submitter ID:22488 IP address:2600:6c67:5080:4b2b:9827:ca64:249a:9a20 Time to complete:1 min. , 4 sec. Survey Details Page 1 Public comment may be submitted via the form below, or by any of the following options. Public comment may also be given at any public meeting. Email: agenda@bozeman.net Mail to: Attn: City Commission PO Box 1230 Bozeman, MT 59771 In-person delivery to: Attn: City Commission City Clerk's Office City Hall, Suite 202 121 N. Rouse Ave. Bozeman, MT First Name Greg Last Name Findley Email Address gfindley@detourdestinations.com Phone Number 4064226025 Comments Bozeman City Commission December 16, 2019 Hello, My name is Greg Findley. I’m a local business owner and the parent of 10 and 12-year-old boys. First, I’d like to thank Natalie Meyer, the City’s Sustainability staff, and the Bozeman Climate Team for their work on updating the Bozeman Climate Plan, and the Commissioners for your willingness to pursue strong climate goals for the City of Bozeman. Like many of you, I live in Bozeman because of our incredible natural surroundings here at the gateway to Yellowstone Park. Our pristine trout-filled rivers, abundant wildlife, and wild mountains offering hiking, solitude, and skiing are what make Bozeman the incredible place it is to live, run a business, work, go to school, and raise a family. Unfortunately, all of it is at risk due to the climate crisis. Atmospheric CO2 hit record levels in 2019 and continues to rise each year. According to the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment, Montana’s annual average temperatures have already risen 2.0 to 3.0 ̊F, and unless we cut emissions dramatically we could see 4-6°F more warming by 2050, and 10ºF more warming by 2100. Without action on climate, our children, my children, are destined to grow up in a vastly different world than the Bozeman of today. Instead of good jobs, a vibrant community, and days filled with powder skiing, hiking, and fishing, their lives will be consumed by fire, floods, fish die-offs, snowless winters, drought, mass extinctions, mass migrations, food scarcity, economic collapse, and endless wars over disappearing resources. Unfortunately, the US Government is rolling back climate action and doubling down on greenhouse gas producing coal and gas. COP 25, the international conference on climate in Madrid, ended this past weekend as an utter failure, with critical pieces of the Paris Agreement removed. Our monopoly energy utility, Northwestern Energy, just announced a plan to buy more of the polluting, high greenhouse gas emitting Colstrip power plant, and they want to spend $1 billion on new fracked gas power plants over the next decade. Our planet is on fire, and developing more coal and gas plants is like pouring gasoline on the flames. No one is going to save us or our children here in Bozeman but us. As a wealthy community with the means to address the climate crisis locally, we must exceed the goals stated in the Paris Agreement to make up for those who won’t or can’t act right now. To match the science requiring 7.6% reductions per year would mean reductions of 33% or more by 2025. But to leave our children with a livable future we must set even more aggressive targets to influence our state, our dominant utility, and our nation to follow our lead. I urge you to amend the goals in Resolution 5118 to the following: • 40% reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2025, • 100% Clean Electricity (removing the word net) and a 50% reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2030 • Zero emissions by 2040 And the City of Bozeman must demand that Northwestern Energy close the dirty Colstrip power plant by 2025, and rescind their dangerous 20-year Electricity Resource Procurement Plan and replace it with a plan to develop Montana’s abundant wind and solar potential, combined with storage, to meet our energy needs. Thank you! Greg Findley 2514 Putter Ct Bozeman, MT 59715 If you would like to submit additional documents (.pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .gif, .jpg, .png, .rtf, .txt) along with your comment, you may alternately address agenda@bozeman.net directly to ensure receipt of all information. Thank you, City Of Bozeman This is an automated message generated by the Vision Content Management System™. Please do not reply directly to this email.