Last November, Boulder voters passed the nation's first-ever municipal "carbon tax" -- a small tax levied on utility bills for Boulder residents. Through 2012 it's expected to provide $1 million per year for the city to implement Boulder's Climate Action Plan (CAP). The tax went into effect April 1, and you'll see it listed on your next Xcel Energy bill.

This is actually big news. There's a lot of interest in Boulder's carbon tax throughout the US -- especially in government, energy, utility, and environmental circles. Several cities have tried to pass a carbon tax, but so far Boulder is the only place that's done it.

You'd never guess that Boulder's carbon tax is big news from following the local media. There was a flurry of coverage around the election, and since then near silence. (I'm not kidding: check out the patterns of news coverage yourself.)

Municipal carbon taxes and other climate change initiatives are controversial. Does it make sense for local governments to independently address a global environmental issue? How can you prove what effects municipal programs actually have on greenhouse gas emissions?

Given this situation, I'm pleased to announce that my I, Reporter business partner Adam Glenn and I recently received funding to do a one-year project to cover the implementation of Boulder's carbon tax and climate action plan.

We're very excited about this opportunity, and we need your help.

This project is so new that we haven't even had a chance to launch the site yet, but we wanted to start right away in gathering a core community of people who want to participate. We thought YourHub would be a great place to start.

Here's what we have planned, in broad strokes:

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• A site, bouldercarbontax.org, (due to launch before the end of April) which will offer news, views, resources, data, and discussion about the carbon tax and the implementation of the city's climate change action plan.
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• The site's content will be a blend of professional journalism (by Adam and myself), citizen journalism, and community views and conversation. We'll be offering community workshops and training to help people create great contributions for this project.
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• Resources such as spreadsheets that let you follow the money trail and the carbon emission impact; commentary and announcements from key players on all sides of this issue; first-person accounts of how the city's plan is affecting Boulder citizens, businesses, and institutions; and an ongoing public conversation that explores the hard questions about this issue.
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• YourHub's editor Travis Henry has agreed to give this project regular space in the online and Boulder print edition of YourHub. We believe it's crucial that this project is available to the broadest local audience possible, which means reaching beyond online media.
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• Whatever else the project volunteers and larger community want to help produce! Everyone involved will have a voice in shaping this project.
  

We can't do this without you. To learn how to participate, e-mail me at amy@gahran.com and we'll figure out the best way to get you involved. Thanks!