City Sustainability Rankings from SustainLane

It's very useful to compare yourself against others to determine where you need to improve. Knowing where our city stands on a number of sustainability and environmental issues would be very useful. SustainLane does just that for the top 50 metro areas in the U.S. They rank cities based on 16 environmental criteria and then assign an overall ranking. Atlanta was the most improved city from 2007 to 2008 moving up from number 38 to number 19. That's a nice move. Our bright spots on the report are Green Building, where we are #3 overall, Transit Ridership and Local Food. Our low spots are congestion, air quality and planning/land use.

Check out the chart to see how Atlanta ranked on all of the criteria.



Source: SustainLane.com

Political Roundup - 2009 Legisltative Session

image courtesy of Robert S. Donovan @ Flickr

This letter was sent out to supporters yesterday from the Georgia Environmental Action Network to thank everyone for supporting the issues during the last legislative session. It nicely outlines all of the major environmental issues that were voted on. Unfortunately, we did not win them all but we did win some. Read on for a recap..

Last Friday marked the last day of the Georgia General Assembly’s regular legislative session. Over the last three months, we asked you to take action on several issues being considered by the legislature.

Thank you to the thousands of Georgia Environmental Action Network subscribers who took a few minutes to send a message to their state representatives and state senators. Below is a summary of what happened on those issues and whether they remain alive for next year:

• Cut More Trees For Less - SB 164: On Wednesday, April 1st, legislation sponsored by Senator Don Balfour, that would have expanded billboard companies’ ability to cut down and remove trees along roadsides was defeated in a close vote when the conservation community prevented the bill from obtaining the 91 votes it needed for passage. The vote was 74-89. A motion to reconsider the bill passed quickly afterwards, but the bill was never brought up for another vote on the last day of the session. SB 164 was sent back to the House Rules committee, where it can be brought up for debate again next year.

• Don’t Get Stuck Paying Your Neighbor’s Water Bill - HB 158: Legislation to require new multi-family buildings to put a water meter on each unit rather than one water meter per building passed the House easily and passed out of the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee, but failed to make it out of the Senate Rules Committee. Friendly attempts to amend the bill onto other legislation failed. HB 158 remains alive for consideration next year.

• Keep Treated Sewage From Being Injected in Our Drinking Water - HB 552: Rep. Terry Barnard led the charge to extend the current moratorium on injecting treated sewage and surface water into the Floridan aquifer, a critical source of drinking water for Georgians living in the coastal plain, for another five years. The bill has been sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

• Get Me Out of This Traffic- SB 39, SR 44, HB 277, HR 206, SB 120, SB 200: The Senate passed legislation to allow regions to let voters approve a penny sales tax for listed transportation projects while the House passed legislation that would let voters approve a statewide sales tax increase for transportation. Unfortunately, negotiations to hammer out a compromise broke down at 11:00pm during the last day of the session. Further, legislation to allow MARTA more flexibility in how it uses its current and reserve funds on operations & maintenance failed. However, both chambers approved legislation to rearrange state agencies to give the Governor, Lt. Governor and Legislature more control over transportation revenue and road-building.

• Exemptions from Clean Water Protections - SB 155: The House and Senate passed legislation, sponsored by Senator Chip Pearson, that provides a definition for the smallest, most temporary streams created only from rain and snowfall and then exempts them from 25 foot buffers from development. Conservation groups argued to clarify the definition, but attempts to amend the bill failed. SB 155 now heads to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

• Pay Now for Nuclear - SB 31: Legislation to create a new funding scheme for the construction of nuclear power plants, sponsored by Senator Don Balfour, passed both the House and Senate. The legislation has been sent to the Governor for his signature.

Thank you again for your efforts to urge conservation through the click of a button. We greatly appreciate all of the Georgia Environmental Action Network subscribers.

Sincerely,

Altamaha Riverkeeper
Center for a Sustainable Coast
Coosa River Basin Initiative
Flint Riverkeeper
Georgia Canoeing Association
Georgia Conservancy
Georgia Conservation Voters
Georgia River Network
Mothers & Others for Clean Air
Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper
Satilla Riverkeeper
Savannah Riverkeeper
Sierra Club, GA Chapter
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

Peach Bites

Urban areas see revival in housing construction
USA Today - USA
This article details the renaissance of sorts that has been occurring in the hearts of many urban areas. It's not rocket surgery and most people have noted the trend but I tought it was about time that an official in the metro area made a statement like this: "Demographics have really changed," says Dan Reuter, land use chief at the Atlanta Regional Commission. "People are waiting longer to get married, longer to have children, and once children are grown up, we're living longer." Now, that is newsworthy.

MARTA in tough straits as revenue, ridership dip
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
Another story about the spike in ridership on MARTA last year during the gas crunch. It obviously serves the city when the people need it but what is the region doing to make the residents of the metro area realize that need when gas isn't expensive. Shortening the time of a bus ride down from double that of a car trip would be a goood start.

Atlanta's Environmental Efforts Profiled at Montreal Trade Show
Global Atlanta
City officials explained the city's sustainability initiatives and the beltline. Lynette Young, executive director of the private group, Sustainable Atlanta, discussed Atlanta's progress on asthma initiatives and work being done to reduce the city's carbon footprint. Joe Basista, commissioner of Atlanta's Public Works Department, also discussed an exciting new project that will issue recycling rebates to city residents for recycling.

More Billboards & Fewer Trees

Just what we all wanted right?

Tomorrow, the house will be voting on SB 164 which would as summarized by the Georgia Environmental Action Network, do the following:

• Eliminate a 5 year waiting period between the time a billboard is erected and when a billboard company can receive a permit to trim or remove trees. The waiting period has been part of law for more than a decade to help ensure no permits are issued for the purpose of creating new billboards.
• Erase the current system where DOT permit fees are based upon the value of the vegetation being removed in front of a billboard in favor of a fee of $4500 minus the cost to the billboard company of purchasing, installing and maintaining replacement landscaping. This could result in less revenue for the Roadside Enhancement and Beautification Fund.
• Put trees planted as part of beautification projects at risk of being cut down to maximize billboard visibility if they were planted after January 1, 2009.
• Allow the removal of hardwood trees more than 8 inches in diameter and nonhardwood trees having a diameter of more than 12 inches.
• Phase in the expanded tree cutting provisions over three years rather than setting up a pilot program with a sunset date to allow for an analysis of its effectiveness.

If you would like to send your representative a message, click here.

Peach Bites

Citywide Conversation on Transit & Trails
Atlanta Beltline Inc.

This Citywide Conversation on April 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 West Peachtree St., will focus on how ABI and MARTA are working together to complete an Environmental Impact Statement as required to compete for federal transportation funding and preserve the BeltLine right-of-way. The conversation will cover feedback from the first round of public scoping meetings including updated goals and objectives and new evaluation criteria and a review of the EIS process and milestones for public input. It will also include an open house on the inventory of existing environmental, cultural, and socio-economic features along the BeltLine that may be impacted by construction of the transit and trails.

Georgia House Nixes New Transportation Agency
Atlanta Business Chronicle

After the senate narrowly passed the bill three weeks ago, the house has voted it down. Much of the concern is over the fact that the govenor, lieutenant govenor and speaker would be responsible for appointing the members of the agency. We should see a new version of the bill sometime next week though.

Georgia Legislature is Pushing to Ease Restrictions on Stream Barriers
Georgia Public Broadcasting

The Georgia Legislature is seeking to soften mandatory buffers aimed at protecting Georgia's waterways from pollution and development. The House voted 106-58 Thursday to remove the buffers around an untold number of unnamed tributaries - or ephemeral streams - that crisscross the state. State law provides for a 25 foot buffer along all streams and as much as 150 feet for watersheds providing drinking water. Supporters say many of the streams are little more than ditches and that the buffers restrict growth and hamper property rights. Critics say loosening rules could threaten the state's clean water.