A consortium of North Country counties, towns and organizations has received $1 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to create a comprehensive smart growth plan for regional sustainability. This is part of the Cleaner, Greener Communities program, a major environmental initiative announced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in his 2011 State of the State address. The plan is expected to reduce carbon emissions, increase energy savings and enhance economic development.<\/p>\n
The consortium, led by representatives from each of the seven North Country counties – Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis – will develop a smart growth plan that encompasses the North Country Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) area. Essex County is the municipal sponsor for the North Country’s Cleaner Greener Communities initiative.
\n“This initiative is an important part of the implementation of our region’s economic development plan,” states Garry Douglas, President of the North Country Chamber of Commerce and Co-Chair of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council. “The development of renewable energy such as biomass, hydro and wind is a key strategy, and the funding secured from NYSERDA will be the first step toward defining and pursuing a roadmap for converting opportunity into economic progress.”<\/p>\n
The development of a comprehensive regional sustainability plan is the first phase of the Cleaner, Greener Communities program and is intended to provide resources that each New York State region can use to develop its own vision, goals and objectives for a sustainable future, identify actions needed to achieve that future and outline metrics to measure success. Only one award was made in each region of the state.<\/p>\n
Once the plan is developed, additional funding will be available from the Cleaner, Greener Communities program on a competitive basis over the next three years to implement projects that support the goals of the plans. Projects must create opportunities for achieving carbon reductions, energy efficiency savings and\/or renewable energy deployment while enhancing job creation, economic investment and development consistent with the region’s sustainability and REDC strategic plan.<\/p>\n
“By harnessing the North Country’s green energy awareness, skills, and supplies, we now know we can achieve complete energy independence, excluding transportation. The Cleaner Greener Energy Program is providing us with the basis to provide: more jobs, lower cost energy, and a major step change in overall CO2 levels. The North Country Clean Energy Conference is a significant event to communicate this program to the practitioners, educators and users to enable energy independence for our entire region,” said ANCA Board member Dan Mason, Director of the North Country Clean Energy Conference, which took place in June in Lake Placid, NY.<\/p>\n
The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) and Ecology and Environment, Inc. (E&E) will provide consulting support to the coalition, including technical expertise required to undertake a greenhouse gas inventory, develop sustainability indicators and identify projects that will assist the region in meeting both its target for GHG reductions and economic growth, and will provide required reporting to the state over the eight month project timeframe.<\/p>\n
“People across the North Country have been working on these issues for nearly 10 years, volunteering time and resources to understand and develop plans for improving our energy economy and building more sustainable communities,” said ANCA Executive Director Kate Fish. “It is deeply exciting to now be able to bring these efforts together under a single planning effort that will consolidate all the work that has been done, and support innovative projects that make jobs, reduce our energy costs, and create more resilient and self-reliant economies. ANCA is honored to be a partner in this visionary project for the region and the State.”<\/p>\n
For further information on the North Country sustainability growth planning process, please contact Kate Fish, Adirondack North Country Association, 518-891-6200 or kfish@adirondack.org. For further information on the Cleaner Greener Communities program, please contact Kate Muller at NYSERDA, ktm@nyserda.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A consortium of North Country counties, towns and organizations has received $1 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to create a comprehensive smart growth plan for regional sustainability. This is part of the Cleaner,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n