A week ago, Austin Mayor Will Wynn, who's already known far and wide for his commitment to clean energy, announced the city's new Climate Protection Plan, which makes Austin a leader among U.S. cities in the fight to curb human impact on climate change. Broadly, the plan includes these elements:

• Municipal Plan. Makes all COA facilities, fleets and operations totally carbon-neutral by 2020.
• Utility Plan. Implements the most aggressive utility GHG-reduction plan in the nation through dramatic increases in conservation, efficiency and renewable programs; requirements for carbon neutrality on any new generation; and by early retirement of existing utility GHG emissions.
• Homes and Buildings Plan. Makes Austin building codes for both residential and commercial properties the most energy efficient in the nation.
• Community Plan. Develops a comprehensive plan for reducing GHG emissions from sources community-wide.
• "Go Neutralâ€? Plan. Provides mechanisms for all businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint to zero.

Environmental Defense acknowledged the importance of Austin's move. Jim Marston, regional director of Environmental Defense, said

The City of Austin is already a leader in clean energy and environmental stewardship. This plan launches the city to the forefront of the fight against global warming. This isn't just the strongest plan in Texas, it's the strongest plan in the country. This is the kind of leadership that makes us proud to live in Austin and hopeful that Texans will accept responsibility for the role we should play in solving this global crisis.

Not everybody was that positive, though. The Save Our Springs Alliance was critical:

Transportation makes up about 27 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The bulk of this comes from cars and trucks. Given Austin’s limited industrial base, the percentage is likely higher here. Yet the City’s new plan only lists “transportation� among a list of items to be considered by a “City Climate Action Team� that will meet and in one year make “recommendations for short-term and long-term reduction targets and implementation strategies for the metro area.�

Punting this critical issue to a task force for another year, and with no guidance, does not exactly demonstrate courage or leadership. TxDOT's core planning assumption for the Austin region is that population will increase 100 percent by 2030 but that total vehicle miles traveled will increase by 139 percent. This earth-frying, paradise-paving assumption means that highway contractors must have more, more, more of our money. We must question and reverse this assumption if Austin is truly going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from current levels (much less from 1990 levels).

SOS goes on to say "there may be more hot air, not less."

The press conference and new plan come on the heels of a front page story last week that Austin Energy would fail to meet its goal of providing 15 mega-watts of solar energy to Austin residents by 2007. (The Jan. 29 Statesman reported the City’s electric utility is providing a single mega-watt of solar energy.) A couple of months back, Mayor Wynn insisted he really cares about global warming, clean air, and public health, but he would not allow Austin to join a large coalition of cities, business leaders, and environmental groups in opposing Texas Utilities rush to build 13 or more coal plants because he feared TXU lobbyists would try to punish Austin in the legislature. (Fear of Austin-bashing legislation is a time honored excuse for Austin officials’ failure to protect our environment.)

There was more criticism from a blog called "Political Heroes," the author of which referred to the plan as "the aggressive injection of unnecessary bureaucracy." His complaint: "Wynn's plan will require that all home sellers make costly improvements prior to the sale of their house. These improvements would be necessary in order to meet new strict energy standards in Austin." He's referring to a provision of the Homes and Buildings part of the Plan:

Require disclosure of historic energy use, facilitate and require energy
efficiency improvements in existing homes and buildings at point of sale.

He says

Wynn had stated that the government would help to get sellers the help they needed to make these improvements. I assume that this means matching people with contractors to make the necessary improvements. To which contractors will the government lead people? Follow the money.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes... and we invite your comments below, of course.