By DAVID E. HANSON
Los Alamos

On July 9, 2024, the County Sustainability manager and Cascadia Consulting presented the Los Alamos Climate Action Plan (CAP) to the County Council. They are requesting community feedback and plan to present the final version of the plan in Sept. or Oct. for Council approval.

There are a number of vital actions that are missing from the plan and the single thrust that is the overwhelming focus of the plan (reducing our CO2 emissions in Los Alamos County) is misleading in several ways. Except for Councilors (Randall) Ryti and (David) Reagor, who asked some critical questions after the presentation, most of the Council seemed satisfied and supportive of the plan. So, unless the public voices its concerns about the important deficiencies in the CAP, it appears to be on track for approval this fall.

The focus of the plan on CO2 tracking and reduction will provide no benefit to Los Alamos residents unless the rest of the world participates with us. It distracts our attention and consumes funding that could otherwise be used towards necessary actions having a more immediate effect.

What’s missing

Every day, the evening and online news is filled with accounts of property damage and loss of life due to (what used to be considered unprecedented) extreme weather events. Climate change is no longer an environmental issue to be addressed in the future; it threatens the public health of the US on a daily basis and our municipal and county governments have the responsibility to prepare for it. The challenges come in many forms: catastrophic floods, wild fires, extreme temperatures (high and low), wind, drought and pathogen spread. Recall the cold snap in Texas in 2021 that took the lives of (at least) 278 people and the wild fire in Maui that destroyed the city of Lahina and caused over 100 fatalities. In 2023, the US experienced over 2,300 heat related deaths – 13 times as many as the average over the previous 20 years. It is heat events, especially those of long duration, that are most deadly. Los Alamos is certainly vulnerable to this danger due to the significant fraction of our population that is elderly or of low and moderate income who do not have refrigerated air conditioning. Our government must have emergency plans in place before the extreme weather events occur. The Climate Action Plan should be focusing on these near-term climate threats.

What’s misleading

The consultant’s analysis for the CAP is very misleading because the claims that it makes for benefits to Los Alamos County appear to be projections of CO2 emission reductions for THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. Just as important, the focus of the plan on carbon emissions is misguided because it impedes our ability to address the immediate health effects of climate change. On slide 18 of Cascadia’s presentation is a list of ‘Priority Actions’ in the CAP. Costs range from $25K to $200K and they claim beneficial “Impacts” of between 3K and 169K MTCO2 reduction. ‘MTCO2’ stands for millions of tons of CO2 equivalent. You might be astonished with how much our CO2 can be reduced for a paltry $200K. However, if you google ‘annual CO2 emissions in US’, you will find that in 2022 the US emitted just 6,343 MTCO2. Why does the CAP claim 253K MTCO2, almost 40 times the total US emission in 2022? Since an explanation isn’t included on the slide for how the numbers are to be interpreted, we are forced to guess. Evidently, the number refers to the projected total US emissions reduction until 2050, not per year in just Los Alamos County. The assumption is that EVERY county in the US is following the Los Alamos CAP. When asked what the savings for Los Alamos would be under the CAP, the presenter replied about $15 million, but elaborated that this was for the whole world and not just Los Alamos County, perhaps out to 2050. She also added that this was an estimate that included ‘social savings’. Councilor Ryti commented at the meeting that some of the proposed actions in the CAP like more energy efficient building codes and electric vehicle infrastructure could be pursued independently of the CO2 emissions tracking.

What needs to be done about the Climate Action Plan

1. Delay the CAP until it can be amended to include the important lifesaving responses to possible near-term extreme weather events from climate change.

2. Correct the focus and over-emphasis on CO2 emissions tracking and reduction.

3. Engage a qualified public health consultant to guide the planning of measures related to the impact of climate change on the health of our community, since the County has no expertise in that domain.

4. In anticipation of the above, begin to take steps to establish a robust County administrative structure to respond to public health threats from climate and weather emergencies.

5. What can You do? Take the time to send comments to the County to make sure that we get a practical and sensible plan. Here are some links to the County to send your comments: linda.matteson@lacnm.us, countycouncil@lacnm.us and https://losalamoscap.konveio.com/los alamos-climate-action-plan

County presentations of the CAP can be viewed at the following links:

CAP-Cascadia https://losalamos.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13069279&GUID=F62B0 0E2-E7F9-496B-82F9-0728DF3A697F CAP7-9-24.

LA County https://losalamos.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13069284&GUID=506C9 D16-F820-49A7-9EF7-2E6605D02C75.