Lewes mayor pledges to follow Paris agreement

Lewes Mayor Ted Becker will sign a petition already signed by nearly 300 other mayors urging President Donald Trump to rethink his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump announced his intentions to pull the United States out of the international agreement June 1. In the weeks that have followed, the mayors of nine of the country's largest cities, as well as hundreds of others, have opposed the decision and announced their intentions to follow the agreement.

"As a state that is subsiding and worried about climate change, it seems to me that this accord was a good one," said Becker at council's June 12 meeting.

"We started receiving emails almost immediately upon [Trump's] decision, asking us to consider signing onto the mayors group that is opposing our withdrawing."

The petition was created by the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, founded by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. On its website, the group offers a Paris Agreement Adoption Toolkit offering resources to assist mayors and city officials in joining the group and adopting the Paris Agreement.

By joining the group, mayors adopt the spirit and goals of the agreement, supported by tangible local-level action, such as setting near- and long-term targets to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, developing a climate action plan and developing a community greenhouse gas inventory.

Rather than make the decision himself, Becker put the decision up for a vote. Deputy Mayor Fred Beaufait was the only member of the five-person council to oppose.

"I support our efforts with climate change – that is not the issue here," he said. "I see this as a political move that continues to drive a wedge in our society, and I cannot support it because of that."

Councilwoman Bonnie Osler said the petition is not politically motivated.

"We believe that climate change is real. We believe that it is affecting us. And we believe that the U.S. should be moving forward with the rest of the world, not backward," she said. "I don't see this as political. I see this as survival."