Utilities board adopts 2024 Climate Action and Resiliency Improvement Plan over one dissent

The Bowling Green Utilities Board voted to adopt the 2024 Climate Action and Resiliency Improvement Plan (CARAP) at its regular meeting, approving Resolution 3‑2205‑3 by a 3‑1 margin. The vote followed public comment from a member of the CARAP committee and an extended board discussion about the plan’s potential cost and operational impacts.

The board’s adoption signals the utility’s endorsement of the plan’s goals and opens the next steps required by the original council resolution: approval by city council and the mayor. Newlove, Jesse and Hogan voted yes; Susiek voted no.

Why it matters: the CARAP lays out short-, intermediate- and long-term recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with city operations and for encouraging community resilience. Several board members raised concerns about possible rate impacts tied to program choices in the plan and sought clarification about who would make final rate decisions.

Jim Evans, who identified himself as the community representative on the committee that prepared the plan, framed the CARAP as a public-safety and resilience measure rather than a political proposal. "Resiliency is about protecting people's lives and keeping the power on rather than being a political issue," Evans said, citing climate trends and research on recent combined weather-and-power-failure events.

Evans also said the CARAP was intended as a roadmap. He described the plan’s structure — short-, intermediate- and long-term recommendations tied in part to regulatory changes affecting larger regional plants — and said city government operations are a more achievable target for net-zero goals than the entire community.

Board members focused much of their discussion on the plan’s treatment of renewable energy certificates (RECs). A board member said keeping the city’s RECs, rather than selling them, could increase electric rates by an estimated 4–5 percent; that figure was discussed as an approximate budgetary effect rather than a guaranteed change. Utilities staff and plan proponents said the report recommended hiring a third‑party consultant to analyze REC options and estimate real dollar impacts before any decision that would affect rates.

Assistant Utilities Director (presenting the item) told the board the resolution before them was to adopt the CARAP as presented and noted the original council resolution requires review and approval by the board, city council and the mayor. "We recommend that the board approve the resolution to adopt the 2024 Climate Action and Resiliency Improvement Plan as we presented it," the assistant director said during the presentation.

Board members reiterated that any future rate adjustments would require board approval and that adoption of the CARAP does not by itself change rates or force implementation of a specific REC policy. The board’s adoption therefore establishes recommended direction and preserves the normal review and approval process for any program or rate changes that may follow.

Next steps: the CARAP adoption by the Utilities Board is one step of three; council and mayoral approval remain required before actions in the plan move forward. The plan also includes a five‑year review cycle to allow updates as technologies and regulations change.

Votes at a glance: Resolution 3‑2205‑3, adopting the 2024 Climate Action and Resiliency Improvement Plan — Motion to adopt made from the floor; second provided. Roll-call: Newlove: Yes; Jesse: Yes; Hogan: Yes; Susiek: No. Outcome: approved (3–1).