O'Hara working to strengthen sustainability through DEP program

O’Hara leaders are working to reduce emissions and combat climate change in the township.

The community is among 12 participants across the state to complete a program to mitigate risks and strengthen sustainability.

“Council has long been committed to helping improve the environment for our residents and beyond,” township Manager Julie Jakubec said.

Conducted through the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Local Climate Action Program requires inventories of local greenhouse gas emissions and the development of plans to resolve issues.

The classes are paid by the State Energy Program of the U.S. Department of Energy.

“Climate change is often discussed in terms of global temperature increase, sea level rise and hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell.

“But the way people experience climate change is at the local level, and along with actions at the state, national, and international levels, actions in our communities are needed to reduce risk.”

The program saw O’Hara and other participating municipalities join with ICLEI, a nonprofit that works toward sustainability, and students from the University of Pittsburgh, IUP and Penn State, along with several schools in the eastern part of the state. The teams worked to inventory local buildings, waste management procedures and transportation for greenhouse gas emissions.

The teams also identified climate-related vulnerabilities in their communities, like flooding and public health impacts from extreme heat.

After reviewing recommendations in the Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan, teams drafted local climate action plans to lower emissions and increase resilience to climate change impacts.

Municipalities are then eligible for free services from an energy management consultant, coordinated by DEP, to determine the most effective first steps to reduce emissions.

Following the workshop, Jakubec said the township will seek to develop a Climate Action Plan.

Potential data will be included in the township’s Implementable Long Range Plan, the development of which is underway with Fox Chapel.

Jakubec said that to compile the township’s plan, she requested specific information from public sources like the water authority and ALCOSAN, the county’s wastewater treatment agency.

She compiled a database with the number of customers served by each utility, the total measurable units of usage and whether it was for commercial or residential application.

Jakubec said the township has taken a proactive stance with sustainability issues and cited council’s prior approval of electric vehicle car charging stations at O’Hara Community Park and the Lauri Ann West Community Center.

Other Allegheny County participants in the DEP program included Carnegie and Swissvale boroughs.

Since it was founded in 2019, the state program has provided training to 380 municipalities across the state.