An American Lion

Even if there’s nothing to the latest “Climate Gate” scandal, it doesn’t seem like there’s a sense of urgency here, does it?

After intense opposition from building owners, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has dropped the most far-reaching initiative of his plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan, which the owners said was too costly, called for all buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to undergo audits to determine which renovations would make them more energy efficient, and for owners to then pay for many of those changes.

The mayor wants to go forward with the proposal to require energy audits, but now is leaving it up to the building owners whether to undertake the changes called for by those audits.

It would have put New York far ahead of other cities in the green-buildings movement. Many cities require that newly constructed buildings be energy efficient, but do not impose those standards on existing properties. Some 22,000 buildings, together accounting for nearly half the square footage in the city, would have been affected.

“It’s another unfunded mandate, and this is just not the time for it,” said Stuart Saft, chairman of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, an opponent of the plan. “Come back in five years when we’re past this recession. At this point it’s just a slap in the face.”

Now, is there Federal money at play here? Specifically, stimulus money or Federal dollars held out as an incentive to do this kind of transformation? According to the article, in order to enact the plan, an estimated $2.5 billion dollars was needed, but the city only had $16 million in stimulus funds to get the ball rolling. Stimulus money well spent? What happens to that money? Does it go back into the kitty?

It comes down to resources, and maybe Climate Gate has nothing to do with it, I don’t know. But with no money in the pipeline, no sense of urgency on global climiate change is now needed here.