ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT POLICY COMMITTEE

September 3, 2020 at 9:00 a.m.

Google Meet Information: Meeting ID: meet.google.com/qzj-fhqk-hpk

Dial in: (515) 599-7417

PIN: 280 885 178#

Agenda

6100 Southport Road

Portage, Indiana 46368

(219) 763-6060

www.nirpc.org

1.0 Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance

2.0 Introductions

3.0 Meeting Minutes – August 6, 2020 (pp. 1 – 2) ACTION REQUESTED – Approval

4.0 Public Comments

This is an opportunity for comments from members of the audience. The amount of time available to speak will be limited to 3 minutes. Commenters must indicate their wish

to comment on the sign-in sheet.

5.0 Draft Resolution 20-24 NIRPC Sponsorship of Regional Environmental Resilience Institute Application. (pp. 3 – 20)

Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute is accepting applications for the 2021 cohort of externs.

Kathy Sipple, Danni Schaust, Erin Lasher, and Alex Bazan will present on efforts to secure local government support for regionally sponsored ERI Intern(s) in the 2021 Cohort.

Brenda Scott Henry, City of Gary will speak about her community's experience participating in this program.

Kathy Luther will lead a discussion of considerations and concerns to be addressed in the resolution. ACTION REQUESTED - Vote to Recommend

6.0 Announcements

7.0 Next EMPC Meeting December 5, 2020 at 9 a.m.

8.0 Adjournment

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, parental status, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program.

Environmental Management Policy Committee NIRPC – Virtual Meeting

August 6, 2020 Minutes

This meeting was convened as an electronic meeting, pursuant to Governor Holcomb’s Executive Order 20-04 and 20-09, extended by Executive Order 20-39. All persons were meeting remotely on a Google Meet platform that allowed for real time interaction and supported the public’s ability to observe and record the proceedings. When the agenda item was provided for public comment, this was supported as well. A roll call was taken to motion and approve the agenda items.

Jan Bapst called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. In attendance were Sarah Nimetz, Jenny Orsburn (DNR), Amanda Vandenoever (MS4), Kevin Breitzke, Kay Nelson (Forum), Brenda Scott-Henry (City of Gary), George Topoll (Union Township), Lauri Keagle (SSCC), and Kathryn Vallis (DNR).

NIRPC staff present were Kathy Luther, Candice Eklund, Dominique Edwards, James Winters, Kevin Polette, and Flor Baum.

The minutes of the January 9, 2020 meeting were approved on motion by Kevin Breitzke and second by Lauri Keagle. A roll call was taken, and the committee voted unanimously to approve.

There were no public comments.

James Winters and Kathy Luther presented plans for the upcoming Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA); general information, Air Quality, and Environmental applications. The NOFA will be open to receive applications from September 11 to October 21. Similar to last year, a workshop will be conducted on September 29 to discuss any questions regarding the application. NIRPC staff will also be available for one-on-one assistance. The topical committees will review the applications from November through February. The Technical Planning Committee will meet February 9th to award the projects. In April of 2021, the TIP is expected to be adopted with all the new projects at The Commission meeting. Generally, the application is similar to the past NOFA, but the changes are noted:

• In the previous NOFA application, funds were set aside for risk. Now, funds will be set aside for future PE and ROW.

• Question 13A of the programming rules covers group 1, in which $250 thousand per year will be set aside for PE and ROW. Question 13B of the programming rules covers group 2, in which $70 thousand per year will be set aside for PE and ROW.

• Any project exceeding $6 million and cannot be broken into phases shall be deemed a Transformative Project. It will be reviewed separately from the other NOFA projects by the TPC.

• All LPA's are to provide uninflated funding requests. NIRPC staff will put together a matrix and inflate all funding according to historical spending.

• Currently, there is no Federal Transportation Highway bill, therefore the funding overview amounts have not changed.

• The General Project Information section will be populated with all the risk. This includes, but is not limited to railroad involvement, ROW needs and type, Regional significance, and NEPA documentation.

• Lastly, the LPAs will submit all project applications and supporting materials through a Google Form. This has a couple benefits:

  • A notification will be sent to Charles and the LPA which will include what was submitted.

  • The project's general information will be accessible to the public on a Google spreadsheet after October 21.

The EMPC will evaluate the Environmental and Air Quality applications of the NOFA. Under the Air Quality section, because it is for Air Quality Congestion Mitigation dollars, CMAQ can be used to pilot a new transit line, or emission reduction from busses. The environmental category projects include Wildlife Crossing Projects, Stormwater Management Projects, and Roadside Vegetation Management. From October 29 through November 4, the committee will review and score Air Quality and Environmental applications. On November 5, the committee will have a working group meeting to review Air Quality and Environmental project scores. Please contact Kathy Luther for CMAQ and Air Quality questions. Please contact Joe Exl for Stormwater and Wildlife questions.

Announcements were made by Lauri Keagle for South Shore Clean Cities (SSCC) which can be found at https://southshorecleancities.org/. Announcements were made Jenny Orsburn for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Kathy announced the kickoff workshop for Brownfield Grant and Redevelopment is scheduled for September 1 from 1:00 p.m. through 3:00 p.m.

The next EMPC meeting is scheduled for September 3, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. in the NIRPC offices. Hearing no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:54 a.m.

6100 Southport Road

Portage, Indiana 46368

(219) 763-6060

www.nirpc.org

RESOLUTION 20-24: A RESOLUTION TO ALLOW NORTHWESTERN INDIANA REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION TO APPLY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE INSTITUTE INTERN PROGRAM ON BEHALF OF MULTIPLE NORTHWESTERN INDIANA JURISDICTIONS

Discussion Points:

• In 2010 NIRPC passed Resolution 10-17, resolving to become a resource for our communities regarding the issue of climate change, mitigation, and adaptation strategies for municipal officials;

  
  

• NIRPC is authorized to provide any administrative, management, or technical service to a unit of local government that requests the services, and the local unit and the commission may enter into a contract concerning the commission's provision of administrative, management, or technical services and the cost to the local unit for the services; and

  
  

• A regional application may reduce competition between NIRPC member units for this service and may be more cost effective for participating local governments than individual applications

  
  

• Success of the project is dependent on the level of effort that the local governments are willing to put into it.

• Only 1.2 % of NIRPC's annual operating budget is available for discretionary activities;

  • ERI requires payment of $1,500 per intern to supplement their grant support; and

  • NIRPC estimates a cost of $1,260 per intern for overhead, technology, and oversight expenses;

    • Related activities in NWI to possibly coordinate with and avoid duplication of effort

      • South Shore Clean Cities/Argonne National Lab/Port of Indiana GHG Inventory

      • Indiana Dunes Climate Adaptation Plan

    ○ ???

    
    

    Suggested Resolution Actions:

    
    

• The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) authorizes submission of

a Regional application to the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI) on behalf of units of government committing to participate fully in the project, subject to the following conditions being met:

• That at least two units of government wishing to participate in this regional application must submit signed letters of commitment to NIRPC at least 7 business days prior to the application due date of December 3rd

  
  

• That participating units of government commit to paying ERI directly a $200 ICLEI resources fee ($300 for populations over 50,000) should the regional NIRPC application be accepted.

• If the NIRPC Regional Environmental Resilience Institute application is accepted, prior to entering into an internship agreement, NIRPC will requires each participating unit of government to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement committing to the following:

  
  

  • Payment directly to ERI of $200 ICLEI resources fee ($300 for populations over 50,000) should the regional NIRPC application be accepted.

    
    

  • Identification of a single point of staff contact at [town of, county of, etc.] to help guide the greenhouse gas inventory. This staff contact would be responsible for:

    • Meeting (virtually or in person) with their designated intern regularly (at least an hour or two a week) to help identify points of contact for data collection and answer nuanced questions that relate to the community

      
      

    • Participating in the bi-weekly 1-hour Resilience Cohort webinar trainings between April and September 2021

      
      

    • Staying in contact with the designated NIRPC contact who will be providing on-site supervision of the intern(s)

• That NIRPC be in receipt of $2,760 per intern from participating units of governments or supporting partner organizations before entering into an internship sponsorship agreement with the Environmental Resilience Institute.

Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission‌

2021 Resilience Cohort

5

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

ERI and Resilience Cohort Overview

• Environmental Resilience Institute

  • Research

  • Communication

  • Implementation of solutions

• Resilience Cohort

  • 2-year cycle

    • 1st year: community-wide greenhouse gas inventory

    • 2nd year: climate action plan development

6

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

2019 Cohort

• 14 Indiana communities including:

  • Fort Wayne

  • Evansville

  • Oldenburg

  • Gary

  • Richmond

• 8 Indiana Sustainability Development Program externs

  
  

  

  7

  

  

  
  

  What is a greenhouse gas inventory?

  
  

  8

  INDIANA UNIVERSITY

  

  2021 Program Details

  

• Community-wide greenhouse gas inventory

  • Optional: local government operations inventory

• April – September 2021

• Benefits:

  • Access to ClearPath and ICLEI Online Community

    

  • Training and support from ERI and ICLEI

  • Option to apply for a 10-week summer extern through partnership with Sustain IU

• Cost is based on population:

Have Questions?

Contact the Resilience Cohort Program Staff:

Andrea Webster, Implementation Manager webster5@iu.edu cell: 502-229-9582

Erin Lasher, Planning for Action Coordinator eelasher@iu.edu office: 812-856-3543

Resilience Cohort - Join Now!

• IU program that helps towns, cities, and counties complete a greenhouse gas inventory

• Types of data - energy use, vehicle miles traveled, solid waste, water use and treatment

• Intern needs a computer, workspace, and phone

• An estimated 5-10 hours a month to assist the intern (typically closer to 5 hours)

  • Introduce intern to a person or entity that has data for completing the inventory

• IU provides formal data requests, trains interns, has regular check-ins with interns

  Costs Consideration per Political Entity for a Regional Application

  Political Entity	Population	Intern Contribution*	Inventory Platform**	Total Costs***
  Political Entity 1	> 50,000	$600	$300	$900
  Political Entity 2	< 50,000		$200	$800
  *Assumes $3,000 for two interns with five communities contributing $600 each. **Inventory platform cost is based on population size. ***Does not include IT and overhead costs. Initial estimates with two interns for NIRPC are $3,500-$5,000.

• Earth Charter Indiana will share cost of internship contribution, municipalities will pay inventory platform

• Work done so far:

  • Petition - over 500 signatures

  • Fundraising - over $2,000

  • Created website: https://nwiregionresilience.org plus social media platforms

  • Outreach to local officials in over 10 communities

  • Passed resolution through Lake County

Steps for Communities to Participate

MEMORANDUM

To: Local Governments Representing Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties

From: Kathy Sipple, Senior Resiliency Coordinator for Earth Charter Indiana, Northwest Indiana Region and Alex Bazán and Connie Wachala on behalf of team members of the NWI Region Resilience Project

Date: August 25, 2020

Subject: The Resilience Cohort Program, the Value of Applying as a Region through NIRPC, and How to Join

This memo explains the Resilience Cohort program, its benefits to the Northwest Indiana region, why local governments should apply as a region to the program through the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commision (NIRPC), and how communities can initiate steps for participation.

RESILIENCE COHORT

The Resilience Cohort is a grant-funded program offered by Indiana University (IU) that provides towns, cities, and counties in Indiana the resources, technical assistance, and a potential intern to complete a greenhouse gas inventory. A greenhouse gas inventory is derived from energy consumption within a defined boundary for one year, for example all of the greenhouse gas emissions for the Town of Highland in one year.

IU provides a government operations inventory and community-wide inventory to local governments.

• Government operations inventories collect data on employee commutes, government solid waste generation, government building energy use, and fuel used by the city, town, or county fleet, among other sources

• Community-wide inventories collect data on energy use in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, solid waste sent to the landfill, water use and treatment, and transportation occurring within the defined boundary, among other sources

  
  

  Local government staff may choose to complete the inventory without having an intern. Estimates for local government staff to complete the inventory are about 10-15 hours a month for five months. However through the recommended option of an intern completing the inventory, local government staff will require an estimated 5-10 hours a month to assist the intern. An example of providing assistance for the intern is introducing the intern to a person or entity that has data necessary for completing the inventory.

  
  

  Once a town, city, or county completes a greenhouse gas inventory through the Resilience Cohort, it has the opportunity to reapply to the program where resources, technical assistance, and a potential intern are provided to create an action plan. Greenhouse gas inventory cohorts occur in odd years and action plan cohorts in even years. The inventory informs the process for creating emission reduction targets and identifies areas where actions can meet goals of an action plan.

  
  

  The Resilience Cohort program has expressed openness to providing innovative projects for its students, such as the regional participation approach we are proposing.

  
  

  BENEFITS TO NORTHWEST INDIANA REGION

  Informed officials make better decisions: A greenhouse gas inventory better informs local elected officials of their community’s energy consumption and what they can do to reduce emissions, save money, and improve air quality and public health. Local officials can develop strategies that allocate monies more effectively to projects that save energy and public dollars. Dollars saved as a result of reduced energy consumption can be reinvested into other projects that benefit the community. In addition, a greenhouse gas inventory provides a baseline for emissions, which allows a community to track emissions over time. This is invaluable to evaluation of projects. If a particular project has an estimated energy savings, a greenhouse gas inventory can provide insight into the effect the project has on emissions and energy consumption. The adage, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it,

  applies to this initiative. Metrics allow elected officials to better evaluate projects and learn from past projects to provide continuous improvements to their community.

  
  

  Our region can make a greater impact together than if we work alone: Northwest Indiana communities are connected and reliant on one another in so many ways. Through the Resilience Cohort, we will have a competitive advantage over other regions. With a region that is better informed on the environment and energy, we have an opportunity to shape development and promote energy consumption so that it saves taxpayer money, improves air quality and public health, and makes our region more resilient to periods of environmental and economic instability.

  
  

  Participation is more affordable than alternatives: If a private firm were to complete the inventory, the costs per community can range from $15,000-$50,000. The two cost components for participation in the Resilience Cohort are the inventory platform and intern contribution. The inventory platform measures and tracks greenhouse gas data and its cost of $200-$300 is based on a community’s population size. The option to host an intern has a suggested intern contribution of $1,500 per intern. This option is popular because an intern coupled with IU's technical assistance reduces the hours that a required local government staff would need to complete the inventory on their own. Two interns have the ability to complete five inventories during their internship, which gives communities the opportunity to reduce the intern contribution cost through cost sharing. Please see Tables 1 and Table 2 below for cost considerations and a hypothetical example of costs for a regional application.

  
  

  Table 1. Costs Consideration per Political Entity for a Regional Application

  Political Entity	Population	Intern Contribution*	Inventory Platform**	Total Costs***
  Political Entity 1	> 50,000	$600	$300	$900
  Political Entity 2	< 50,000		$200	$800
  *Assumes $3,000 for two interns with five communities contributing $600 each. **Inventory platform cost is based on population size. ***Does not include IT and overhead costs. Initial estimates with two interns for NIRPC are $3,500-$5,000.

  
  

  Table 2. Hypothetical Example of Costs for Regional Application with Six Interns

  Political Entity	Population	Intern Contribution*	Inventory Platform**	Total Costs***
  Lake County	> 50,000	$600	$300	$900
  Porter County	> 50,000	$600	$300	$900
  LaPorte County	> 50,000	$600	$300	$900
  Hammond	> 50,000	$600	$300	$900
  East Chicago	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Schererville	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Hobart	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Crown Point	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Munster	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800

  Highland	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Griffith	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Whiting	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  LaPorte	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Portage	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Valparaiso	< 50,000	$600	$200	$800
  Total	NA	$9,000	$3,400	$12,400
  *Assumes $9,000 for six interns with each community contributing $600. **Inventory platform cost is based on population size. ***Does not include IT and overhead costs.

  
  

  Regional participation saves time and energy: Instead of duplicating efforts for each community, one single application would save precious time and money that a staff member would take to file the Resilience Cohort application. Our region also shares many common data sources. For example, we share NIPSCO as a common utility and a lot of our data sources, such as transportation data, are housed through NIRPC. If communities apply as a region, we eliminate multiple data requests and the time and energy it takes to provide this data for an intern to analyze.

  
  

  WHY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SHOULD APPLY AS A REGION THROUGH NIRPC

  NIRPC represents the Region, has the expertise, and shares common goals: NIRPC would be the best regional applicant to the Resilience Cohort. NIRPC represents all Northwest Indiana communities in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte County. It is capable of filing the Resilience Cohort application because it has the expertise to apply to far more complex applications such as federal transportation grants. NIRPC also houses some of the data that an intern would need to complete an inventory. Furthermore, as a regional body, many of NIRPC’s goals in its NWI 2050 Plan align with the objective of the Resilience Cohort program such as the following:

• "Maintain a regional inventory of alternative energy and fuel infrastructure as well as collect data on the usage and locations"

• "Analyze NWI energy and fuel use and carbon footprint trends"

• "Continue working with university partners on collecting and analyzing data"

• "Create a Climate Resiliency Plan for the Region"

Moreover, the pillars of NIRPC are to provide planning and programming for transportation, economic development, and environmental policy. The Resilience Cohort satisfies all three.

NIRPC enables the benefits of a regional application: As a regional body that often applies for grants, facilitates regional outreach, and administers regional programs, NIRPC is best suited in its ability to apply to the Resilience Cohort and facilitate necessary stakeholders to complete a greenhouse gas inventory. NIRPC can remove the duplicative efforts that individual communities would otherwise dedicate in the application and participation of the Resilience Cohort. Its organizational structure as a regional body is conducive to creating efficiencies in a regional application and the completion of a greenhouse gas inventory for the Northwest Indiana region.

NEXT STEPS

We recommend that Northwest Indiana communities apply as a regional applicant by filing through NIRPC. Because the Resilience Cohort is a grant-funded program, there is no guarantee it will continue in subsequent

years, therefore communities should take advantage of its offerings while it's available. Earth Charter Indiana, an environmental nonprofit, will share the cost of the intern contribution. Communities will primarily cover inventory platform costs. To date there are 41 municipalities that make up NIRPC and two of the municipalities, Gary and Michigan City, have already participated. While involving all 39 municipalities in this program is impossible, we do hope to engage anywhere from 6-10 political entities. Of course were we to attract more municipalities and can assure costs for IU interns, we'd be glad to add even more to this regional effort. It is also possible that intern help from other institutions could provide support. For example, Richmond's Resilience Cohort intern came not from IU, but from Earlham College.

We have had some initial conversations with NIRPC’s environmental director, Ms. Kathy Luther. Ms. Luther has shared that NIRPC would need to hear from local elected officials to support this process. This resulted in efforts for Lake County to pass a resolution in support of this initiative, which occurred this August. Ms. Luther has also shared the first steps NIRPC needs to assist interested communities. Those steps are included in Table 3. Finally, Ms. Luther is looking into NIRPC IT and overhead costs. Those costs would be in addition to the inventory platform and intern contribution costs. Initial estimated costs for IT and overhead for two interns range from

$3,500-$5,000. We will continue conversations with NIRPC as we explore the best means to partner with communities and lower costs.

Table 3. Steps for Communities to Participate

Community Volunteers

NORTHWESTERN INDIANA REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION

Telephone Fax Messages

(219) 763-6060

(219) 762-1653

Together We Make The Diff e re nce - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On the Internet www.nirpc.org

6100 Southport Road Portage, Indiana 46368 E-mail Messages nirpc@nirpc.org

A RESOLUTION OF THE NORTHWESTERN INDIANA REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION

TO

IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF REGIONAL IMPACTS AND STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS

POTENTIAL CLIMATE CHANGE RESOLUTION 10-17

Whereas, there is general scientific consensus that the earth is experiencing a long-term warming trend and that human-induced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases {GHGs) are a contributing factor; and

Whereas, in the United States, transportation is the largest source of GHG emissions, after electricity generation and within the transportation sector, cars and trucks account for a majority of emissions; 1;and

Whereas, 23 USC 143(a) states that it is in the national interest to:

...encourage and promote the safe and efficient management, operation, and development of surface transportation systems that will serve the mobility needs of people and freight and foster economic growth and development within and between States and urbanized areas, while minimizing transportation-related fuel consumption and air pollution through metropolitan and statewide transportation planning processes...

Whereas, the USEPA has determined that climate change is a threat to human health and, as a result, intends to begin regulation of greenhouse gases via the Clean Air Act, which will have a direct impact on transportation planning activities; and

Whereas, transportation and other public infrastructure systems will likely also be affected by climate change because transportation infrastructure is vulnerable to predicted changes in lake levels and increases in severe weather and extreme high temperatures. Long-term transportation planning will need to respond to these threats; and

1 US.DOT FHWA Highways and Climate Change Website; July 2008 "Integrating Climate Change into the Transportation Planning Process. "

Resolution 10-17

Whereas, there remains significant uncertainty as to the exact impact climate change could have on built infrastructure and natural ecosystems systems in Northwest Indiana; and

Whereas, in the face of this uncertainty it is desirable to maximize the resiliency and flexibility of our built environment, preserved natural areas, and other regional assets; and

Whereas, in the face of this uncertainty it is desirable to focus investment on activities with multiple beneficial outcomes; and

Whereas, planning for and investing in green infrastructure provides an ideal opportunity to provide economic and environmental benefits in and of itself, in addition to enhancing the resiliency and flexibility of our communities.

Now, therefore, be it resolved:

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission requests that efforts be made by our local universities and other partners to adapt and scale down global climate models to reduce the uncertainty concerning human health, economic, and ecological impacts of climate change in our jurisdiction; and

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will enhance its existing public education and outreach programs activities and messages, with consideration of the benefits and burdens to the environmental justice community, which include low income and minority populations of such programs and messages, that will be mutually advantageous to both the existing program areas and climate change related activities; and

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will strive to become a resource for our communities regarding the issue of climate change, mitigation, and adaptation strategies for municipal officials; and

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will undertake to seek to weave green infrastructure into the tapestry of its long term planning efforts, programs, and projects as a cost effective and flexible strategy to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in the face of uncertainty.

Duly adopted this 16th day of September, 2010

ATIEST:

d £ L

David Uran, Secretary

RESOLUTION NO. 20-43

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE FUNDING BY NIRPC OF INDJANA UNIVERSITY'S REGIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORY COHORT

WHEREAS, Lake County recognizes the clear relationship between energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, emergency management, planning and economic development and aims to continue to fill gaps vvithin the region and pursue initiatives that will achieve measurable improvements and stress the importance in building resilience; and

WHEREAS, a greenhouse gas inventory quantifies the amount of greenhouse gases released within a defined boundary in a twelve-month period and creating a greenhouse gas inventory requires a holistic (whole systems approach) way of planning and preparation for the region; and

WHEREAS, a greenhouse gas inventory provides data on the amount of energy consumed such as the diversity of energy supplied to the grid and a community's vehicle type and fuel usage distribution; and can be used to set energy reduction targets and develop a plan for reducing emissions derived from energy consumption which will translate into cost savings; and

WHEREAS, the Resilience Cohort is a program offered by Indiana University that provides tov.,ns, cities, and counties the resources, technical assistance, and an intern to complete a community-scale greenhouse gas inventory; and

WHEREAS, participating in Indiana University's Resilience Cohort program helps communities that the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission represents meet the NWI 2050 goals of maintaining a regional inventory of alternative energy and fuel infrastructure as well as collect data on the usage and locations; analyze NWI energy and fuel use and carbon footprint trends; and continue working with university partners on collecting and analyzing data;

and

WHEREAS, the Resilience Cohort is grant-funded, and therefore presents a real, albeit temporary, opportunity to have an emissions inventory done at a fraction of the cost of an inventory done by a private consultant; and

WHEREAS, a regional application through Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) offers the No1ihwest Indiana region the opportunity to save costs and time in applying to the cohort; and

WHEREAS, a first step to initiate a regional application is by passing a resolution requesting NIRPC to fund the Resilience Cohort Program.

NO\V, THEREFORE, LET IT BE RESOLVED:

That the Lake County Council, a member of the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission, supports the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission in funding the Indiana University Resilience Cohort program, which creates a greenhouse gas inventory.

The Lake County Council supports the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission convening stakeholders (public, private, academia) in the development of a greenhouse gas inventory through Indiana University's Resilience Cohort program.

SO RESOLVED THIS 11 DAY OF AUGUST, 2020.

T

Absent

DAVID HAMM CHRISTINE CID

CHRISTIAN J. JORGENSEN AL DO MENCH CA

L

L

DANIELE. oEULC

C- TE

Members of the Lake County Council