MaryJae
Gregor's Greenwashing
RECEIVED Tue., June 23, 2009
Dear Editor,
After greenwashing Austin’s Climate Protection Plan for more than two years (see, e.g., Austin Chronicle [“How Cool Is Austin?,” News, March 9, 2007], [“Cool City: The Leffingwell Lens,” News, Aug. 31, 2007], [“The Austin Climate Protection Plan,” News, Dec. 7, 2007], [“Cool Austin, Cool Planet,” News, April 18, 2008], and [“Two Years Gone – How Many Left to Save the Planet?,” News, April 17]), Katherine Gregor has finally discovered what has been obvious from the outset: The alleged “plan” weighs less than Will Wynn’s favorite green tie. Thank you: Better late than never.
Yet Ms. Gregor detracts from her reporting by again repeating City Hall misinformation as fact (in her online sidebar). Building the half-billion-dollar boondoggle called Water Treatment Plant No. 4 will not reduce Austin Water Utility greenhouse-gas emissions as claimed by the utility. Instead, it will saddle rate-payers with a series of rate increases and force the utility to encourage water waste for decades in order to pay off the massive debt-financing for the plant. Megaconstruction projects and decades of water waste both translate directly into substantial increases (not reductions) in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Also, I look forward to seeing how Ms. Gregor tries to square (or ignore) a decade of Austin Chronicle support for sprawl-inducing toll roads with her newly found knowledge that tailpipe emissions account for roughly half of our region’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
Again, thank you.
After greenwashing Austin’s Climate Protection Plan for more than two years (see, e.g., Austin Chronicle [“How Cool Is Austin?,” News, March 9, 2007], [“Cool City: The Leffingwell Lens,” News, Aug. 31, 2007], [“The Austin Climate Protection Plan,” News, Dec. 7, 2007], [“Cool Austin, Cool Planet,” News, April 18, 2008], and [“Two Years Gone – How Many Left to Save the Planet?,” News, April 17]), Katherine Gregor has finally discovered what has been obvious from the outset: The alleged “plan” weighs less than Will Wynn’s favorite green tie. Thank you: Better late than never.
Yet Ms. Gregor detracts from her reporting by again repeating City Hall misinformation as fact (in her online sidebar). Building the half-billion-dollar boondoggle called Water Treatment Plant No. 4 will not reduce Austin Water Utility greenhouse-gas emissions as claimed by the utility. Instead, it will saddle rate-payers with a series of rate increases and force the utility to encourage water waste for decades in order to pay off the massive debt-financing for the plant. Megaconstruction projects and decades of water waste both translate directly into substantial increases (not reductions) in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Also, I look forward to seeing how Ms. Gregor tries to square (or ignore) a decade of Austin Chronicle support for sprawl-inducing toll roads with her newly found knowledge that tailpipe emissions account for roughly half of our region’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
Again, thank you.
Bill Bunch
Save Our Springs Alliance
Save Our Springs Alliance
[Katherine Gregor responds: Misinformation is in the eye of the beholder. The data provided by the Austin Water Utility is adequately researched; it addresses only energy reductions from water pumping at Water Treatment Plant No. 4, as stated, not construction impact.]
