Santa Fe climate group seeking fee to reduce greenhouse gases

A local non-profit group looking to reduce greenhouse gases has started a petition drive aimed at swaying the city and county of Santa Fe to impose a $2 per month impact fee to fund initiatives to reduce carbon and methane emissions. Robb Hirsch, founder and executive director of Santa Fe’s Climate Change Leadership Institute, says more than 1,000 people have already signed the online petition that calls for the city and county “to adopt a reasonable environmental impact fee to support green community empowerment initiatives.” “It’s important to work with the community to make sure this is wanted, which it is, and make sure this is coming as a groundswell of support from the community,” said Hirsch, who hopes to present the petition to the City Council in October. Asked how the impact fee might be imposed, Hirsch said probably the most practical way would be a flat fee on water utility bills, coupled with an additional amount based on water usage as part of an effort to reduce water consumption. Another method of imposing the fee might be through property taxes, basing it on a sliding scale so higher valued properties would pay more, but that could be harder to achieve, he said. Money generated from the impact fee could be used to fund initiatives to help offset the effects of climate change. Those could include solar installations, community gardens, home weatherization programs, low energy loans to help residents transition to renewable energy, and education programs informing people how they can reduce their carbon footprint...more