Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond says she'll take northern school board trustees concerns about the provincial government's carbon offset policy to Victoria, but is stopping short of making any promises.
During a weekend meeting this month, the Northern Interior branch of the B.C. School Trustees Association passed a resolution calling on Victoria to ensure public funds paid to the Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT) are used to fund public projects only.
School districts and other public bodies pay $25 per tonne of annual greenhouse gas emissions to PCT, established in 2008 to purchase credits on behalf of public sector bodies, which adds up to $200,000 a year for School District 57.
But the public sector is excluded from accessing that money to pay for energy efficiency projects.
Instead, cash goes into private sector projects - notably at luxury hotels and resorts.
Bond, who was among the MLAs who met with the branch during the meeting, was made well aware of trustees concerns.
"I thought the discussion was constructive and my job now is to take those views back to government, which I will be doing," she said Friday.
While the school district is shut out of access to the carbon offset money, it does receive a 100-per-cent refund of the carbon tax money it pays in the process of purchasing fuel for heating and transportation, which is expected to add up to $90,000 this year.
All of that money is being plowed back into energy efficiency projects designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, in the process, lower the amount the school district must pay out in carbon offsets to PCT.
The branch's resolution, which will be forwarded to the BCSTA, also called for a more equitable formula to address regional disparities. Due largely to higher heating costs in Northern B.C., School District 57's carbon offset bill works out to roughly $17 per student compared to just $9 per student in the Langley school district.
But Bond noted School District 57 receives extra funding to cover its heating costs. For 2010-11, it was given $1.06 million in "climate factor funding," the highest amount received by any school district in the province and representing 10 per cent of the total B.C.-wide allocation.
"We're in an evolving field here," Bond said. "This is something where the Pacific Carbon Trust is new. There has been a recognition that public sector organizations do need to deal with carbon emissions and the government does have a legislative framework in place."
