San Francisco Utilities Commission prepares
for Global Warming

Photo(s) by Luke Thomas

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

August 9, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission began Tuesday what could be a long-term plan to save the city and region from a catastrophic change in climate.

Whether it's the rising of the ocean of more than three feet, leading to a collapse of the city's sewer system, or a dramatic reduction in the Sierra Nevada snow pack, resulting in a crippling drought and energy crisis, San Francisco will be ready, according to the commission's General Manager Susan Leal.

"All the scientific data tells us that climate change is real and it's coming,'' Leal said. "We have a responsibility to start confronting it now, not when our reservoirs are low, our hydropower supplies have plummeted and our seas have risen, because then it will be too late.''

The plan was discussed Tuesday at a public hearing in San Francisco. The commission unanimously agreed to begin the long process of adapting the city and region's infrastructure before global warming takes full effect.

Commission spokesman Tony Winnicker said San Francisco will team up with other agencies locally and around the country and could host a Coastal Cities Summit as soon as next year.

"We could adopt a wait and see approach,'' Winnicker said. "But solutions take time.'' The commission is currently scouring the country for experts in the field. Once more research is completed, the commission plans to meet with representatives from Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and other coastal cities that face similar threats.

Winnicker said the commission seeks to make San Francisco a leader in environmental policy. He pointed to the city's Climate Action Plan, passed in 2004, which committed the city to reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012.

"We can't do it alone,'' Winnicker said. "The first step is to get together.''

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