HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 06-16-20; 8-n - Endorsement of Letter to Governor Roy Cooper from Orange County Climate Council
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: June 16, 2020
Action Agenda
Item No. 8-n
SUBJECT: Endorsement of Letter to Governor Roy Cooper from Orange County Climate
Council
DEPARTMENT: Asset Management Services
ATTACHMENT(S):
Proposed Letter Regarding
Recommendations to Support Local
Governments During the Pandemic
INFORMATION CONTACT:
Brennan Bouma, (919) 245-2626
PURPOSE: To authorize the Chair to sign the attached letter from the Orange County Climate
Council as an additional endorsement and send the letter to Governor Roy Cooper.
BACKGROUND: In its May 28, 2020 meeting, the Orange County Climate Council reviewed a
draft letter to Governor Cooper that makes a case for linking COVID-19 relief funding to broader
improvements to public health and resilience. The letter had been drafted by the Council’s own
Policy Committee. After the discussion, the Council voted to approve the letter with a few
suggested edits and send the final version (attached) to the four Orange County local
government elected boards to ask for their endorsement before sending the letter to the
Governor.
The Council’s action was made with the understanding that time remaining during this fiscal
year is short, and that not all local governments might get the chance to review the letter and
consider endorsing it. The Council decided that time was of the essence to send the letter to
assist in framing the economic recovery around both short-term and longer-term interests, and
that the support of the local governments who are members of the Council was essential.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no direct financial impact associated with signing and sending
this letter. The letter supports the idea that the state can help local government economic
recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that this support will have the greatest
impact if it addresses immediate budgetary needs, supports local jobs, reduces expenses for
governments or citizens, and improves the quality of life.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: There is no Orange County Social Justice Goal impact associated
with signing and sending this letter. The letter supports a way for the state to help local
governments continue to protect, educate, and support our residents and to frame its relief
programs in such a way that they will do the most good for the people most in need.
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Environmental Responsibility Goal impact associated
with signing and sending this letter. The letter focuses on public health, resilience, and quality of
life, so a healthy environment is part of the overall message.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board authorize the Chair to sign
the attached letter from the Orange County Climate Council as an additional endorsement and
send the letter to Governor Cooper.
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June 2, 2020
Governor Roy Cooper
Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
Re: Recommendations to Support Local Governments during the Pandemic
Dear Governor Cooper,
We are writing on behalf of the Orange County Climate Council, a collaborative effort
established by Orange County, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough. Our mission is to
develop equitable, effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect County
residents from climate impacts. Council members include representatives from the county and
municipal governments, the school systems, UNC-Chapel Hill, community organizations, and
Orange County residents.
Like other communities across our state, we continue to face the health and economic impacts of
the COVID-19 pandemic. We thank you for your leadership during this challenging time and for
your efforts to help local governments address immediate budget shortages. We urge you and
your administration to continue these efforts. State and federal support is critical at this time to
ensure that county and municipal governments can continue protecting public health and safety,
educating our citizens, providing transportation services, and performing other essential
functions.
We also urge your administration to identify opportunities to ensure that COVID relief
efforts help our local communities and economies emerge stronger, healthier, and more
resilient. As North Carolina’s communities deal with the public health and economic impacts of
COVID-19, many are still rebuilding after recent hurricanes and preparing for the likelihood of
another active hurricane season. Furthermore, the economic impacts of the pandemic are likely
to have long-term effects in many parts of our state. These challenges are interrelated and require
a comprehensive response, as noted in the World Health Organization’s “Prescriptions for a
Healthy and Green Recovery from COVID-19.” (See Appendix.)
Identifying opportunities for government funding to deliver multiple public health and economic
benefits is particularly important during this time of shrinking budgets. COVID-19 recovery
funding will be most impactful if it addresses local governments’ immediate budgetary needs,
protects local jobs, reduces ongoing expenses for governments or citizens, and improves the
quality of life in our communities. Numerous local projects can achieve these goals. For
example, reducing energy consumption in schools and government buildings, expanding
telecommuting options, or enhancing infrastructure to mitigate flooding would target near-term
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needs while providing long-term savings and public health benefits. In addition, state support
could help local governments continue beneficial practices that were initially implemented as
temporary responses to the pandemic.
Economic, public health, and resiliency needs differ across the state. We encourage you to work
with local governments and community stakeholders to identify priorities and determine how
pandemic relief efforts can deliver multiple benefits for North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Mark Marcoplos, Chair, Orange County Climate Council
Melissa McCullough, Vice Chair, Orange County Climate Council
Endorsements:
On Behalf of the Orange County Board of Commissioners
_____________________________
Penny Rich, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners
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APPENDIX
Prescriptions for a healthy and green recovery from COVID-19
(excerpted from “WHO Manifesto for a Healthy Recovery from
COVID-19”)
26 May 2020
https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-manifesto-for-a-healthy-recovery-from-covid-19.
1) Protect and preserve the source of human health: Nature.
Economies are a product of healthy human societies, which in turn rely on the natural
environment - the original source of all clean air, water, and food. Human pressures, from
deforestation, to intensive and polluting agricultural practices, to unsafe management and
consumption of wildlife, undermine these services. They also increase the risk of emerging
infectious diseases in humans – over 60% of which originate from animals, mainly from
wildlife. Overall plans for post-COVID-19 recovery, and specifically plans to reduce the risk of
future epidemics, need to go further upstream than early detection and control of disease
outbreaks. They also need to lessen our impact on the environment, so as to reduce the risk at
source.
2) Invest in essential services, from water and sanitation to clean energy in
healthcare facilities.
Around the world, billions of people lack access to the most basic services that are required to
protect their health, whether from COVID-19, or any other risk. Handwashing facilities are
essential for the prevention of infectious disease transmission, but are lacking in 40 % of
households. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens are widespread in water and waste and their sound
management is needed to prevent the spread back to humans. In particular it is essential that
health care facilities be equipped with water and sanitation services, including the soap and water
that constitutes the most basic intervention to cut transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other
infections, access to reliable energy that is necessary to safely carry out most medical
procedures, and occupational protection for health workers.
Overall, avoidable environmental and occupational risks cause about one quarter of all deaths in
the world. Investment in healthier environments for health protection, environmental regulation,
and ensuring that health systems are climate resilient, is both an essential guardrail against future
disaster, and offers some of the best returns for society. For example, every dollar that was
invested in strengthening the US Clean Air Act has paid back 30 dollars in benefit to US citizens,
through improved air quality and better health.
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3) Ensure a quick healthy energy transition.
Currently, over seven million people a year die from exposure to air pollution – 1 in 8 of all
deaths. Over 90% of people breathe outdoor air with pollution levels exceeding WHO air quality
guideline values. Two-thirds of this exposure to outdoor pollution results from the burning of
the same fossil fuels that are driving climate change .
At the same time, renewable energy sources and storage continue to drop in price, increase in
reliability, and provide more numerous, safer and higher paid jobs. Energy infrastructure
decisions taken now will be locked in for decades to come. Factoring in the full economic and
social consequences, and taking decisions in the public health interest, will tend to favour
renewable energy sources, leading to cleaner environments and healthier people.
Several of the countries that were earliest and hardest hit by COVID-19, such as Italy and Spain,
and those that were most successful in controlling the disease, such as South Korea and New
Zealand, have put green development alongside health at the heart of their COVID-19 recovery
strategies. A rapid global transition to clean energy would not only meet the Paris climate
agreement goal of keeping warming below 2C, but would also improve air quality to such an
extent that the resulting health gains would repay the cost of the investment twice over.
4) Promote healthy, sustainable food systems.
Diseases caused by either lack of access to food, or consumption of unhealthy, high calorie diets,
are now the single largest cause of global ill health. They also increase vulnerability to other
risks - conditions such as obesity and diabetes are among the largest risk factors for illness and
death from COVID-19.
Agriculture, particularly clearing of land to rear livestock, contributes about ¼ of global
greenhouse gas emissions, and land use change is the single biggest environmental driver of new
disease outbreaks. There is a need for a rapid transition to healthy, nutritious and sustainable
diets. If the world were able to meet WHO’s dietary guidelines, this would save millions of lives,
reduce disease risks, and bring major reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.
5) Build healthy, liveable cities.
Over half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and they are responsible for over 60% of
both economic activity and greenhouse gas emissions. As cities have relatively high population
densities and are traffic-saturated, many trips can be taken more efficiently by public transport,
walking and cycling, than by private cars. This also brings major health benefits through
reducing air pollution, road traffic injuries – and the over three million annual deaths from
physical inactivity.
Many of the largest and most dynamic cities in the world, such as Milan, Paris, and London,
have reacted to the COVID-19 crisis by pedestrianizing streets and massively expanding cycle
lanes - enabling “physically distant” transport during the crisis, and enhancing economic activity
and quality of life afterwards.
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6) Stop using taxpayers’ money to fund pollution.
The economic damage from COVID-19 and the necessary control measures, is very real, and
will place huge pressure on Government finances. Financial reform will be unavoidable in
recovering from COVID-19, and a good place to start is with fossil fuel subsidies.
Globally, about US$400 billion every year of taxpayers’ money is spent directly subsidizing the
fossil fuels that are driving climate change and causing air pollution. Furthermore, private and
social costs generated by health and other impacts from such pollution are generally not built
into the price of fuels and energy. Including the damage to health and the environment that they
cause, brings the real value of the subsidy to over US$5 trillion per year- more than all
governments around the world spend on healthcare – and about 2,000 times the budget of WHO.
Placing a price on polluting fuels in line with the damage they cause would approximately halve
outdoor air pollution deaths, cut greenhouse gas emissions by over a quarter, and raise about 4%
of global GDP in revenue. We should stop paying the pollution bill, both through our pockets
and our lungs.
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