Locals weigh in from Denmark: Crowds mar conference

<p>Sonoma County's delegation to the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, report overwhelming crowds, long lines and delays of several hours to register and enter halls.</p><p>“The most pathetic organization of an entry to an event ever = COP15,” wrote Suzanne Smith, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation agency, on Twitter. “Been in line for 3.5 hrs now. Haven't moved in 90 minutes. Lost feeling in feet. Oh. And patience.”</p><p>The 15th U.N. Climate Change Conference — COP15 — has drawn a crowd of 30,000.</p><p>“The conference is overwhelmed with participation,” said Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chairman Paul Kelley in an e-mail. “There was a lot of anticipation that something big would be agreed to here in Copenhagen so there are an overwhelming number of people here compared to the last couple of conferences.”</p><p>Smith and Kelley are two delegation members using a special Sonoma County Water Agency Internet site, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to communicate their experiences from the conference.</p><p>“The whole reason we have a local government delegation is we want to make sure local government and communities are part of the discussion,” said Ann DuBay, a Water Agency spokeswoman. “If people can read and see what is happening there, they can take action locally or let local officials know what they would like to see.”</p><p>The Internet site link is on the Water Agency's home page, www.scwa.ca.gov. “It allows our local folk to see what is happening there on the ground,” DuBay said.</p><p>The Water Agency sent six representatives to the Copenhagen conference at a cost of $22,500, of which $16,300 is being paid for by the Association of California Water Agencies, the National Association of Counties, the International Council of Local Environmental Issues and other groups, officials said.</p><p>The attendees include Supervisor Valerie Brown, who is president of the National Association of Counties, and Kelley, who is president of the Association of California Water Agencies.</p><p>Also attending are Jake Mackenzie, a Rohnert Park councilman and chairman of the Water Agency's water advisory committee; Tim Anderson, the Water Agency governmental affairs director; UC Santa Barbara Professor Robert Wilkinson, an expert on environmental policies; and Tod Brilliant, a free-lance videographer.</p><p>The Sonoma County Transportation Authority also sent Smith, its executive director, allocating $2,000.</p><p>The conference formally began Monday and will last until Friday.</p><p>Kelley wrote in an e-mail the importance he feels of getting involved.</p><p>“When nations meet to talk about treaties - accords — agreements, they often forget that it takes local governments to actually implement what they agree to,” Kelley wrote Monday. “My main focus since being involved with UNNFCC conferences is to communicate the need to have local governments recognized in these negotiations.”</p><p>In a video published on the Water Agency site Monday morning, Brown talks about the people who can't get into the conference's main hall.</p><p>“There is such a negative reaction to that the developing countries walked out today, the process of negotiation is in incredible flux,” Brown said.</p><p>Brown also said that local governments are working together to make sure the preamble to any climate agreement specifies that local government is an important part of any policy.”</p>