Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson says the city is already doing things to reduce its carbon footprint and plans are in the works to do more.
Those comments are in the wake of a story done on Tuesday by MyCaribooNow, that City Council voted this week to not only set specific targets for reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions, but it also announced its intention to declare a climate emergency….
“Our community wildfire protection plan, our fuel management strategy is to avoid emissions in the future and protect our community. Our active transportation strategy in conjunction with some of the things that are being recommended in our fleet review. I would like to look at transit, because electrifying transit vehicles is where a lot of communities are now moving toward.”
Simpson says he would also like to see a deployment strategy become part of their plans when it comes to moving heavy equipment around.
He says the city’s asphalt program is a good example of where this strategy could be used…
“As opposed to doing two pieces of road here and then you have to remobilize and move over to the west side of town and then remobilize and move to the north side of town, so as we look at renewing our capital plan I think we have to have that deployment strategy. And you know the cost savings again may accrue to us but the GHC reductions should be significant.”
Simpson says other initiatives that are underway include a waste management rethink which will include a look at an organic strategy, and the new food innovation hub in Quesnel that will focus on transforming agriculture.