Adding To New Sustainable DC Plans, District Gets Nearly $100,000 For Stormwater Initiative

Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray introducing Sustainable DC Plan initiatives. Photo courtesy of wusa9.com

As part of a package of grants totaling an estimated $400,000 to be distributed among several municipalities and nonprofit organizations around Maryland and Washington, D.C., the District will receive a grant of $95,000 to support stormwater management and green street development adjacent to the famed Dunbar Senior High School which is also being newly renovated.

The school’s roots date back to 1870, when it was founded as the “Preparatory High School for Colored Youth,” before being renamed the “M Street School.” With the re-opening of the school’s previous campus in 1916, it was renamed in honor of Paul Laurence Dunbar who was among the first African-American poet to ever gain national critical acclaim.

Dunbar’s works addressed African-Americans’ difficulties to achieve equality in America during the turn of the 20th century.  Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872 to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar, both natives of Kentucky. His mother was a former slave and his father had escaped from slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War.

The Dunbar school is known for its rigorous academic reputation. The grant announcements were made by Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray. The other six grants will include projects in Cambridge, Md., Prince George’s County, Md., Northumberland County, Pa., and Richmond, Va.

Each of the projects has been designed to improve water quality, increase efficiency, and promote environmental best practices. The grants are part of the Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) program, which is a public-private partnership supporting urban green infrastructure to improve watershed protection and community livability.

The G3 program is a collaborative effort that includes participants such as the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

In Washington, D.C., the stormwater project will work in conjunction with the District’s newly passed Sustainable DC Plan. The 20-year plan – with targets set for 2032 – is designed to improve citywide health through measures including creating new green building infrastructure, transportation improvements, clean air regulations, new city gardens, and increased wetland protection and restoration.

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U.S. Cities Increasing Use of Clean Energy Technologies Despite Lagging Economy

Despite current difficulties in the national economy, most cities surveyed in a new report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said that they have been expanding their clean energy technologies and would continue to grow them over the next five years.

Image courtesy of Earth Infrastructure Ltd.

Cities in the Northeast and South are expecting some of the fastest growth, but nearly all of the 396 cities that participated in the survey are expecting to be “deploying more clean technology in five years than they do currently,” said the report.

The top three most promising choices for energy saving clean technologies by mayors were:

• LED/efficient lighting technologies. The substantial majority of cities (85 percent) already deploy LED lighting, with plans to increase their use in the future.
• Approximately 68 percent of cities reported using energy saving building technologies, such as solar technologies; energy-efficient appliances; and pumps.
• Hybrid vehicles were found by about 40 percent of the cities surveyed as a favorable way of saving energy and carbon emissions.

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Mayors in U.S. Central States Receive Honors for Implementing Green Sustainability Practices

U.S. Department of Energy partnering with the University of Houston to research wind power technology. Photo courtesy of cleantechnica.com.

In working to make the U.S. a more sustainably green country, the way that seems to be producing the most visible and effective results is by doing it at the city level.

In recognition, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Walmart jointly honor two cities every year – both large and small, with populations over and under 100,000 – for their green sustainability achievements.

This year’s newly announced honors go to Houston, Texas and Evanston, Ill. with both receiving the 2011 Mayors’ Climate Protection Award.

Houston received its award because of achievements in both the public and private sector, largely through working with the city’s green office challenge, which works in conjunction with the city’s energy efficiency incentive program and municipal energy efficiency program.

These programs also incorporate free technology, software training, environmental, and energy efficiency consulting from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

There are currently about 330 private companies that have already taken part in the challenge. As part of this green challenge, the city offers eligible businesses and building owners the ability to apply for funding to make permanent energy efficiency improvements to reduce utility expenses and greenhouse gases.

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New Russian River Water Limits May Leave California Growers in the Freeze

Researchers document brown bear/people interactions on the Russian River. Photo by T. DeBruyn, National Park Service.

After a number of unseasonable cold snaps during last year’s growing season, and the pressure put on the California river systems to accommodate crop frost protection measures, the California State Water Resource Control Board has drafted a new preliminary proposed regulation that would severely limit growers access to the Russian River stream system during annual growing periods.

The regulation proposes that any diversion of water from the Russian River stream system, including the pumping of closely connected groundwater for purposes of frost protection between March 15 and June 1 must be under a board approved water demand management program.

It also proposes that any management program ensure that “cumulative diversion rates” don’t result in reductions in stream flow to the point that they endanger anadromous fish, which migrate from salt water to spawn in fresh water, as such as salmon.

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