Nassau County Emissions Reduction Initiatives

Nassau County Emissions Reduction Initiatives
Eleven counties from around the country gathered and signed the U.S. Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration promising to work towards reducing the harmful global emissions by 80 percent by the year of 2050. This would mean an annual reduction of 2 percent, which is believed to be achievable.

These eleven counties were led by Nassau and King counties in Washington state and Fairfax County in Virginia. They were joined by the Sierra Club to urge the U.S. government to pass laws and adopt new legislation that requires the same 80 percent reduction of pollutants by 2050. They are also asking to have vehicle economy standards raised to 35 miles/gallon by 2020 or earlier.
As we wait on the U.S. government to take action, local governments must take action as soon as possible to address global. With its numerous coastal communities, Nassau County is highly at risk to climate changes caused by global warming. Nassau County emissions reductions are not alone in the fight. Cool Counties provides the structure needed to reduce emissions and reduce pollution.
As we continue to observe inaction at the Federal level on reducing emissions that cause global warming, the Sierra Club being the largest environmental organization in the nation and the Cool Counties group are working in unison to adopt laws and regulations that fight carbon emissions and encourage clean, renewable energy sources with taxpayer savings considered.
Nassau County emissions reduction has already begun with 10 percent of all county facilities power supplied by wind in Nassau County. Translating to 10 million emissions free kilowatt-hours of power. With one of the largest alternative fuel fleets in the state, 175,000 gallons of B2O biodiesel fuel will have been purchased by the end of 2007 to fuel Nassau Countys non-emergency fleet. Along with 60-compressed natural gas, ethanol and electric vehicles Nassau County emissions reduction planed a 20 tons reduction of CO2 in 2007.
These changes have already helped Nassau County emissions reduction by 5 percent. Recent upgrades to county buildings have helped to make them much more energy efficient. This will help to give taxpayers $800,000 in energy savings.
We must be committed to Nassau County emissions reduction to keep it clean and pollution free throughout our generation and into the next. Nassau County emissions reduction will assure a clean and healthy future on the pacific coast of Washington.
Initiatives include: working with numerous large municipalities to reduce pollutants and emissions, explore mass transit options, continue to preserve the county’s remaining open spaces, state-authorized cigarette tax to discourage smoking, an organic farm and the county’s first Farmer’s Market featuring fresh produce.

In New York State, Nassau county emissions reduction programs are being designed and implemented to decrease the amount of carbon and other harmful emissions produced by diesel motors used in any type of city or county vehicles and transportation systems. The Nassau county emissions reduction plan has been developed in conjunction with other counties such as Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and New York City to make this one of the more comprehensive programs throughout the area.

The goals of the Nassau county emissions reduction program are to bring all their equipment up to current upgrades or replace, retire or repair any existing equipment that does not meet standards with regards to operating efficiency. Not only does the program just deal with upgrading the current infastructure of the transportation and government vehicle systems, it is also designed to encourage the development of newer, more efficient transportation and fuel use systems, help with the development of more efficient types of fuels and motors as well as reduce engine idling and pollution generation throughout the counties and cities involved in the project.

One of the many ways that the Nassau county emissions reduction program is helping the environment is to provide funding in the form of grants and financial support to areas that are striving to reduce the amount of emissions from diesel motors within their area. Besides just financial support, the commission overseeing the program is also involved in matching technical support with counties and areas that want to reduce their emissions and use different types of engines, fuels and systems.

The New York State Department of Transportation as well as the Federal Highways Administration are both on board with the programs and goals of the Nassau county emissions reduction program and are actively supporting the goals outlined in the agreement. Through funding programs and incentives these agencies are working to encourage the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) cars and busses that produce almost no emissions, making them on of the best options for government transportation programs. Currently the county owns 320 CNG buses and 20 compressed natural gas cars, with another 20 on the way. Additionally the county has moved to using a very low-sulfur bio-diesel fuel that will be used exclusively in non-emergency diesel vehicles within the county. The impact of these changes on the emissions within Nassau county is huge, providing a great and positive impact on the people and the environment in the area.

The goals of the Nassau county emissions reduction program is to continue to look for new and innovative ways to advance the use of low emissions fuels, to upgrade transportation to more fuel efficient and “green” fuels as well as make the government the leader in policy in this area.