Fort Collins Now
November 2008
The Fort Collins Climate Action Plan is the product of the Climate Task Force, which has the stated goal of reducing greenhouse emissions.
I have read the City of Fort Collins’ Climate Action Plan. I did so as a public service to you, the taxpayers and citizens of Fort Collins. I sacrificed myself to slog through this masterpiece of enviro-bureaucratic, nanny-statist double-speak so you don’t have to.
Below, I attempt to translate into English.
The Climate Action Plan will cripple the housing market by raising the cost of new homes. The plan calls for “upgrades to the residential building and energy codes.” Now we’re not told exactly what the “upgrades” will be, but we do know that they’ll cost a lot of money. It’s right there in black and white: “It is more cost effective to incorporate energy efficiency measures into buildings during new construction and major renovations because the improvements can be financed as part of the entire package…” What? You didn’t see the admission of higher housing costs?
Allow me to translate: While they offer no specifics about how much the “upgrades” will cost homebuyers, they helpfully point out that these “improvements” can be rolled into your mortgage. Go back and re-read the quote if you’d like.
Even if you’re buying or selling an older home, they have a proposal to “require energy efficiency upgraded at the time of sale for residential and commercial structures that do not meet a certain level of energy efficiency, as determined by an energy audit.” So when you go to sell your house, the city’s going to audit you. If you’re not up to the new codes, you’re going to have to pay for “upgrades.” (The task force just cut the resale value of your home in one sentence.)
Beyond making it more expensive to build, buy or sell a house in Fort Collins, the Climate Action Plan has an odd concept of “conservation.” To the task force, “conservation” means raising the cost of something (through higher taxes or fees) which will lead to “conservation” (because you can’t afford it anymore) and then using that excess “revenue” (from the higher taxes or fees) to further your “conservation” by “educating” you about the need for more “conservation.”
I wish I were making this up. I am not.
“Natural Gas Energy Conservation” is actually a plan to raise fees on natural gas, forcing you to use less: “The City would charge Xcel 3% of annual revenue for gas sales. Xcel would pass this increase (~ 1.5% increase above the current Occupation Tax) on to customers and return the revenue to the City. The City could use this additional revenue to fund climate protection programs.”
They’re planning to jack up your heating bill to force you to turn the thermostat down. If you’re willing to pay more for a warm house, it’ll just go to more programs to tell you to… turn your thermostat down.
They’re planning the same strategy for your garbage. They propose to “amend Fort Collins’ Pay As You Throw residential trash ordinance so that rate design further enhances waste reduction efforts.” “Rate design?” Can’t they at least have the intellectual honesty to say that they’re planning to raise rates to try to bully you into throwing less stuff out?
The most astoundingly tone-deaf part of the plan comes when they declare that “current parking planning practices… tend to result in abundant and generally free parking at most destinations. This subsidizes automobile travel and encourages lower-density land use patterns.” It’s a bit of a jaw-dropper on its face: The Climate Action Plan is telling us that there’s simply way too much parking in Fort Collins; if we just make it harder for people to park, people will drive their cars less.
There’s more, of course. They’re still trying to get you to ride your bike more. They want to make it illegal to throw out cardboard. They want to use your tax dollars to try to get you to buy carbon credits.
This is your city government at work. Have I mentioned that there’s a City Council election in April?
