Phillips joins local government leaders from across the nation to shape federal climate change policy

On the eve of a major debate on major federal climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Larry Phillips met this week with local government leaders from across the U.S. in Washington, DC, to identify how the federal government can help support the County’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The focus of this week’s meeting was to help chart the course of Climate Communities, a new national advocacy coalition composed of cities, counties, and other units of local government that seek new federal policies and resources to support local action on climate change.

“Regional governments like ours are some of the best laboratories for developing and deploying innovative climate change programs and projects,” said Phillips. “Climate Communities is bringing together the best minds at the local level to develop federal policy proposals that will enhance our ability to implement new local initiatives that will produce substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. I look forward to partnering with the federal government to tackle this important challenge.”

As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee begins consideration of landmark cap-and-trade legislation, Councilmember Phillips led a delegation of Climate Communities’ participants who met privately with the chair of the Committee, California Senator Barbara Boxer to ensure that federal tools and resources are available to assist with implementation of innovative climate change initiatives here in King County.

Under the leadership of the Council and County Executive Ron Sims, King County has taken the lead in implementing innovative projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of hybrid buses in the Metro Transit fleet, the Green Fleet Initiative to use hybrid cars and big trucks in the County vehicle fleet, energy efficient buildings such as the Chinook Building and King Street Center, and local land use and transportation initiatives to reduce the use of automobiles. King County is also among the first responders to the impacts of climate change and the impacts of rising sea levels, with creation and funding of the King County Flood Control Zone District to prevent increased flooding.

Climate Communities is developing an aggressive federal action agenda that will empower local communities to achieve transformational climate change progress. The coalition will publicly launch its federal action agenda in early 2008.