Font ResizeThe foundation, which manages the $1 billion in assets of the Leonard and Beryl H. Buck Trust, will provide about $6.5 million for projects that make schools and other public buildings more energy-efficient, about $2.5 million for projects that reduce automobile emissions - particularly in home-to-school transportation - and about $1 million for research into a plan to use West Marin ranches to absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
"We feel a sense of responsibility and stewardship for our planet," said Thomas Peters, president and CEO of the foundation. "There's not a lot any one of us can do with regard to melting ice caps or increasing planetary temperature, but there are certainly things we can do at the community and individual level that make a contribution to reducing and reversing some of the environmental impact."
While the plan has been hailed by several environmental leaders and transportation advocates, other environmental groups and county officials have questioned why the foundation has provided no funding for Marin Clean Energy, the county's plan to bypass utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. by purchasing energy from renewable sources and selling it directly to Marin residents.
"There is no single way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Marin County more powerfully than Marin Clean Energy," said Ed Mainland, state energy
He and others questioned whether the foundation's move might have been made in part because former Marin supervisor Gary Giacomini, who serves on the foundation board, represents PG&E as an attorney and spokesman.
Peters said Giacomini's post has nothing to do with that; the decision was made at an administrative level, he said. He said the decision has everything to do with the fact that three Marin cities - Corte Madera, Larkspur and Novato - have backed out of plans to join the county-run utility.
"We would look at the project again if and when all of the cities and towns, as well as the county, are participating," said Peters, who added that he had not brought possible funding of Marin Clean Energy before the foundation's board of trustees. "With three of Marin's major cities and towns vehemently not participating, the whole question becomes a matter of public policy prioritization."
Barbara George disagrees.
"When you've got 70 percent of the cities in the county involved in community choice aggregation, it's not up to the Marin Community Foundation to second-guess that," said George, executive director of Women's Energy Matters, a Fairfax organization that supports the county's proposal. "I think that the foundation should really be aligned with the county and the cities in this area instead of opposing them on such a major initiative."
The largest part of the foundation's effort will provide about $6.5 million to schools, nonprofit agencies and affordable housing projects to make buildings more energy-efficient and even generate their own energy. The foundation recently provided grants and loans that will allow the Dixie School District to place solar panels on its schools.
That initiative mirrors a plan the county proposed in April. The county's program, similar to ones in place in Berkeley and Sonoma, would allow residents to pay for the cost of energy-efficiency upgrades over 15 to 20 years, with payments appearing on their tax bills.
"We'd love to be able to help the Marin Community Foundation meet their climate change initiative goals through the resources we've already developed over the last five years," said Dawn Weisz, interim director of the Marin Energy Authority. "We've met with their representatives a couple of times, but so far no funds have been awarded."
The foundation plans to funnel another $2.5 million into projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by vehicles, particularly those bringing students to and from school. Peters cited Safe Routes to Schools, a program of the Transportation of Authority of Marin, as an example of a program that both promoted student safety and cut down on car exhaust.
In addition, the foundation plans to provide about $1 million to the Marin Carbon Project, a consortium of scientists, ranchers and nonprofit agencies seeking ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by improving the ability of West Marin ranch lands to retain the gas. The foundation has already provided $240,000 to the project.
"These grazing lands have a lot of potential to store carbon," said Whendee Silver, a professor of ecosystem ecology at the University of California at Berkeley and co-founder of the Marin Carbon Project. "One thing we're investigating is the use of composted green waste. By taking that green waste out of landfills and putting it on range lands, we think it will help the soil hold on to water, add nutrients and help the range lands hold on to that carbon."
Silver believes the project has the potential to cut up to two-thirds of the carbon used to produce energy in a metropolitan area. She chose West Marin as a testing ground because of its proximity to the Bay Area's urban landscape - and because so many organizations, including Marin Organic, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, the UC Cooperative Extension and the Marin County Department of Agriculture have agreed to participate.
"We have a very motivated group of people who are truly unique," Silver said. "There's not a group like this anywhere in the U.S. We're hoping it will be a model of people coming together on a local scale to solve regional and global problems."
Peters suggested the foundation would both invite the participation of existing programs and seek applications from organizations with well-constructed plans that meet the foundation's goals.
"We applaud great intent," Peters said, "but we fund measurable impact."
Contact Rob Rogers via e-mail at rrogers@marinij.com
