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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 061217Meeting Summary Orange County Commission for the Environment June 12, 2017 7:30 p.m. Animal Services Center, 1601 Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill Present: Lynne Gronback (Chair), Bill Newby, Marshall Gray, Sheila Thomas-Ambat, Matt Crook, Peter Cada, Jeanette O’Connor Absent: Alan Parry, Bill Kaiser, May Becker, Jeremy Marzuola Staff: Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma I. Call to Order - Gronback called the meeting to order at 7:30. II. Additions or Changes to Agenda - One addition was proposed to the agenda to include a discussion of a new resolution proposed by Commissioner Marcoplos to ask the Governor to limit the transport of natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing through the state. This was added to the discussion of the Fossil Free NC resolution. III. Approval of Draft Minutes from May 8, 2017. Newby requested that his name be added to the list of those in attendance. This was done and Crook made a motion to approve the amended minutes. Second by O’Connor. Approved unanimously. IV. Discussion of Draft Fossil Fuel Free Resolution - At the May CFE meeting, a draft resolution asking the BOCC to support the effort to be fossil fuel free by 2050 was presented. Edits to clarify that this resolution applied to Orange County were supported by O’Connor and Thomas-Ambat. “Orange County” was added as the first words in “Section 1” before “The State of North Carolina”. Gray requested to either find support for the statement in the resolution referring to coal power plants, or to redact the statement. Since no support of the statement could be found in the background documents, the decision was made to redact it. Cada motioned to pass the resolution as amended. It was seconded by O’Connor and brought to a vote. It was approved unanimously. Bouma stated that he would finalize the requested edits and forward the proposed resolution to the Board of Commissioners for their consideration. Davis presented a draft resolution proposed by Commissioner Marcoplos to ask the Governor to limit the transport of natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing through the state. Newby wondered how the transport of fracked gas through the state could feasibly be limited. In the end, the CFE suggested no changes to the resolution. V. Conservation of Roadside Native Plants - Johnny Randall of the NC Botanical Garden discussed efforts to conserve native plants along Orange County roadsides. The BOCC approved a resolution prepared by the CFE in 2012 regarding the conservation of roadside plants. Randall reported no significant progress with this effort since then. Currently roadsides are thought to be the last place where native flora from this area may remain. These areas were maintained until recently by mowing, which replicated the action of large herbivores. Over the past 15 years or so, with the increase in spraying herbicides to manage these areas, these rare species are disappearing. Johnny Randall is looking for additional volunteers or ideas from the CFE to support roadside surveys, similar to a “bio-blitz”. The identification of rare plants would help provide support for making changes to management practices. It was discussed that the CFE could help amplify this message and may include a section on this in the State of the Environment report. VI. CFE Facebook Page - Bouma provided an update on the new CFE Facebook page. The page is now active and available to the CFE for use as an outreach tool. Bouma had already made the first post on behalf of O’Conno r to advertise a movie on pollinators (“Hometown Habitat “) over the Father’s Day weekend. CFE members stated that due to the small potential for accidentally posting inappropriate content to the site, that they would be most comfortable letting staff post to the site on their behalf. VII. CFE Committee Meetings - Due to the lateness of the hour, Committees did not have breakout meetings. VIII. Updates and Information Items – information on the following items was provided: x Continuing Action Items from previous CFE meetings SOE 2019 Planning x Carrboro Screening of Hometown Habitat Movie x NC Renewable Energy Tax Breaks Article x Draft Regional Conservation Plan IX. Adjournment – Cada motioned to adjourn, and Gray seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:00.