HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 031416
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Orange County
Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
March 14, 2016
Orange County Solid Waste Administration Building, Chapel Hill
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRESENT: Lydia Wegman (Chair), May Becker, Lynne Gronback, Loren Hintz, Bill Kaiser,
Bill Newby
ABSENT: Peter Cada, Thomas Eisenhart, Jeanette O’Connor, Rebecca Ray, Sheila
Thomas-Ambat, David Welch
STAFF: Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma GUEST: Muriel Williman
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I. Call to Order – Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm, and noted there was
not a quorum of members present
II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – There were none.
III. Minutes – Wegman asked for comments on the February 8 meeting summary. There
were none, but no action was taken due to the lack of a quorum of members present.
IV. Energy and Water Usage - County Buildings & Facilities – Bouma provided an
update on Orange County sustainability projects, including 2015 energy and water
usage figures for County-owned buildings and facilities.
Bouma reported that each year Asset Management Services (AMS) and other
departments update the BOCC on the County’s progress toward meeting its goal of
environmental responsibility, which was adopted in 2005. He said representatives from
many departments formed the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee and
together they developed specific objectives for environmental responsibility. The
committee’s name will be changed to the Environment and Sustainability Advisory
Committee to reflect the role of the new Sustainability Coordinator in reconvening it.
Bouma reported that in FY14 the County’s energy usage reduction (measured as
MMbtu/sqft) was at 17% below the baseline year of FY 2010, which was ahead of its
goal for that year. He and his colleagues will be calculating FY15 progress in the next
few weeks. Bouma noted that these analyses only includes County buildings and only
those funded through tax revenues, not fee-supported facilities like the SportsPlex or
those of the Solid Waste Management Department.
Bouma said the County’s water usage reduction goals are being met, but the fuel use
reduction goals are actually trending upwards. He said part of that trend is due to the
Sherriff’s Office and Emergency Services vehicles having to drive more miles. Bouma
said has been working with both of those fleet users since last year’s numbers were
reported, and is hopeful that these efforts will show up as an mpg improvement. With
Emergency Services he has been using a grant to pilot the use of idle reduction
technologies, and with the Sherriff’s Office he has been using a grant to pilot the use of
bi-fuel propane-powered vehicles. Bouma explained that propane vehicles could
provide a carbon emissions reduction and operations cost reduction benefit, while using
a domestically produced energy source.
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Bouma reported that another sustainability project the County is involved in is trying to
figure out a way to get solar panels on the roof of the Rogers Road Community Center.
He said it has been a learning process and one that had built good relationships.
Bouma then introduced Muriel Williman with the Orange County Solid Waste
Management Department. Bouma and Williman discussed their collaboration in support
of waste reduction at County events that serve food through their Waste Wise Events
initiative. This will be a voluntary program to educate and facilitate low or zero waste.
Williman said she is also available to work with residents for events outside the county.
CFE members provided feedback on draft Waste Wise materials:
If these materials will be available to county residents, providing them in paper
form is an important outreach tool. Robo-calls are also in schools beyond email.
The schools have someone police the waste stream
Checklist
o Encourage volunteers to bring reusable containers (e.g., Tupperware) to
take home leftovers; have containers for participants to take food home.
o Remind people several times throughout the meeting about the
opportunity to reduce waste and compost
Add Waste Wise talking points for during the event as a separate
tool or add to one of the other tools
On the caterer list, put the “Serves in Bulk” in green as an essential item
o Add an intro statement at top of the caterer list to let people know how
those caterers were chosen
o Also move the statement about “If you’d like to be added…”, to the top.
On the purchasing guide, add an “Item numbers updated as of____ [date]”
Wegman thanked Bouma and Williman for their information.
Davis asked to reorder the next two items on the agenda, and to discuss the CFE
outreach items and opportunities first. Wegman agreed to making that change.
VI. CFE Outreach Opportunities / News Articles – Davis reviewed a list of recent and
proposed CFE news articles intended to educate and inform the public about issues
highlighted in the Orange County State of the Environment. He noted that there is a
need for identifying new topics for 2016.
Kaiser suggested the CFE produce an article about climate change and the evidence of
human-caused influences on climate change. Wegman noted it will need to be limited to
600 words. Davis noted the CFE could prepare a series of articles on this topic. Bouma
said the CFE could summarize information from other articles rather than writing its own.
Gronback said as a school teacher she often wonders about the effects of poverty on the
environment. She said she has noticed increased littering along certain roadsides and
perhaps the disparity of income among different parts of the community influences how
certain neighborhoods care about the protection of natural resources. Gronback said
she does not know yet what kind of article might be suitable but she wants the CFE to be
mindful of this going on in our community.
CFE members agreed it would be good to change the frequency of news articles to
quarterly, but will wait for a quorum to vote on this matter.
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Bouma suggested other outreach opportunities, such as the Last Friday events in
Hillsborough and the upcoming Earth Evening event on April 29 in Hillsborough. Hintz
suggested that CFE members volunteer at these events. Wegman and Hintz said better
signage is needed to direct people to the Earth Evening venue because last year it was
not easy to find due to the other things going on in downtown Hillsborough. Bouma said
he would reiterate that request to Marabeth Carr and other Earth Evening organizers.
Davis said this year’s Earth Evening will include tables with information from DEAPR,
Eno River Association, Solid Waste Management, 4H, and several other entities. He
said there will be a display about the new Hollow Rock Nature Park that will open in
May. Davis also noted a Movie in the Park will occur immediately following the Earth
Evening. CFE members discussed the possibility of showing worthwhile environmental
documentaries in the future, which might help draw people to the event.
Davis asked for volunteers to help at Last Fridays and Earth Evening. Kaiser said he
would like to help out and suggested this be on the April meeting agenda.
Wegman thanked Davis and Bouma for the information and asked that this matter be
discussed further at the April meeting.
V. Impaired Streams in Orange County – Davis presented a draft list of “impaired” rivers
and streams in Orange County that was released recently by the State of North Carolina.
He first showed a map of the impaired surface waters across the entire state, noting how
these rivers and streams tend to be concentrated around urban areas.
Davis explained that the NC Division of Water Resources assigns a designated use to
surface water bodies (such as drinkable, swimmable, or fishable), and then assesses
each water body using a variety of standards to determine if they are meeting that use.
If a river or stream is not meeting the designated use they are included on the “303d list”
of impaired waters. Davis said after the State releases its list and receives public
comment, the list and methodology goes to the US EPA for approval. The US EPA will
usually focus on reviewing methodology, and will rarely challenge specific State findings.
Davis reported that all the waters in the state are considered “impaired” for fish
consumption due to mercury from coal fired power plants, however that is not a reason
to include them on the 303d list.
Davis said over 1,200 waterways in the state were identified as impaired under Category
5 assessments, which require a determination of the TMDL (Total Max Daily Load, or
how much of a particular chemical a water can body assimilate and still function). He
explained that a TMDL caps pollution allowed in that watershed. This total is then split
among the known sources of that pollution and fines can be levied if those sources
exceed their allotment. Davis said short of a TMDL, under Category 4 a waterway might
be covered by a nutrient load restriction like Jordan Lake Rules. Category 4 waters are
impaired, but (by definition) are not included on the 303d list. They do not need the
development of a TMDL because they are “covered” by an alternative to a TMDL, such
as the Jordan Lake Nutrient Management Strategy.
Davis said a lack of healthy populations of benthic macroinvertebrates is often the
reason why a stream is designated as impaired. Assessments occur no more than once
every five years in selected waterways. Monitoring does not always occur in the same
season, which can lead to varying results. Droughts also impact the results significantly.
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Also there are usually only one or two samples for long stretches of a waterway, which
doesn’t account for varying conditions along the length of the waterway.
Davis reported on the Orange County waterways on the 2016 draft 303d list of impaired
waters. A segment of the East Fork Eno River from Halls Mill Road to Dry Run was
added to the 303d list due to benthos, but a segment of the main stem of the Eno River
above Corporation Lake was removed. A small segment of Morgan Creek below
confluence with Meeting of the Waters Creek was added to the list due to the degraded
quality of the fish community present.
Davis was asked whether OWASA gets involved in protecting drinking water source
quality. He said OWASA likely gets involved with managing the algae that grow in its
reservoirs as they can impact the taste of drinking water.
Wegman thanked Davis for his presentation.
VII. Updates and Information Items – Information on the following subjects was provided in
the meeting package; selected items were discussed: a) CFE membership roster, b)
CFE Committee priorities (revised draft), c) Eno River hydrilla management update, d)
coal ash dump in Chapel Hill, e) “The Nature of Orange” photo contest 2016, f) Solarize
the Triangle campaign, g) green schools cost assessment, and h) widespread problems
caused by a natural gas leak in California.
VIII. Adjournment – Wegman adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm.
Summary by Rich Shaw, DEAPR Staff