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Climate News

Seattle

The Land Use and Sustainability Committee is meeting April 29 at 9:30am to discuss the Climate Action Plan, the confirmation of Lylianna Allala as Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment, and the work undertaken by the department.

The Ave in the UDistrict will be carfree for three Saturdays in May and June. "This pilot program will test out how University Way (popularly known as The Ave) would function if it were fully pedestrianized."

The City announced that it will add a dedicated bus lane to the most congested areas on Denny Way, which should help address one of the slowest bus routes im the region, the "Late 8". Transportation workers will start the project in May, but pause for the World Cup, and finish work in August.

Sound Transit

Transportation Choices Coalition is hosting a town hall on The Future of Light Rail in Seattle on May 5 at the Seattle City Hall, 6-7:30pm. Here's a description from TCC:

Sound Transit is navigating a critical phase in determining what the future of light rail will look like. Following announced cost overruns of around $35 billion for the long-range plan, the agency is reassessing how to deliver the transit system voters approved while facing real financial and logistical challenges. Big decisions will need to be made by Sound Transit Board members that will affect completing the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions, and the Graham Street Station.

Come learn what is on the table from King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, and Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss. The Town Hall will feature a brief presentation from Sound Transit on the Enterprise Initiative and a moderated panel discussion and then an open Q&A. The event will be moderated by TCC Executive Director, Kirk Hovenkotter.

State

For the fourth year in a row, the State declared a statewide drought emergency due to extremely low snowpack. The state got enought precipation (104% of normal), but most of that fell as rain instead of snow. Seven of the past 10 years have had drought in parts or all of the state. 

Thurston County and Olympia both passed forms of the Home Energy Score policy, to allow potential home owners to get more information about energy improvements in properties for sale.

Elsewhere

Energy price shocks from the Iran war are hitting the whole world, and this has cascading effects. Some places are accelerating a push to clean energy. The UK government will now require heat pumps and solar panels in all new homes. France is doubling state aid for electrification. Some coutries, like Canada, France, Ireland and Germany are suspending or reducing gas taxes in an effort to reduce costs for citizens.

Merino Energy is a startup that has just entered the heat pump market, with an all-in-one heat pump for $3800. It's a wall-mounted unit that can be plugged into an ordinary 120V electrical outlet. It can be installed in one hour. It is for smaller places, and is currently available only in California.

Climate News 3.22.26

Seattle

The City Council has moved onto Phase 2 of the Comprehensive Plan, and is considering new zoning for Urban Centers and Corridors. They were briefed on this by OPCD on Thursday (presentation, video starting at 39 min). There will be a larger public hearing on Monday, April 6, with remote testimony starting at 9:30, and in person testimony from 2pm.  The Connected Communities Coalition has put together an info sheet, and is advocating for:

• a courtyard bonus to concentrate open space and allow room for larger shade trees

• a green building height bonus for PassivHaus and mass timber

• more multifamily housing on the side streets near frequent bus stops

To testify remotely, sign up here starting at 8:30am. If you are attending in person, sign in with the clerk at the start of the meeting. Connected Communities is holding a rally before the in person meeting at noon in front of City Hall.

SDOT has announced the first three low pollution neighborhoods: South Park / Georgetown, Lake City, and Capitol Hill. It has been more than 3 years (!) since this initiative was announced by Mayor Herrell. SDOT presented the program to the Transportation Committee as part of the levy update. They will do research and outreach from 2026-2027, and starting in 2027 will make actual changes. Example strategies they will consider include:

• People-first street designs that make neighborhood streets safer and more comfortable for walking, rolling, and gathering 

• On-street electric vehicle charging to expand access for residents without off-street parking and to reduce pollution from personal vehicles

• Support for low-emission deliveries, including e-cargo bikes and other cleaner freight options 

Seattle City Light is proposing a $4B plan as part of the recertification process for the Skagit River hydroelectric dams. It has been negotiating with the tribes over fish passage, and the capital plan includes about $1B for improvements to salmon passage and habitat restoration. There was a hearing on this in the Parks and City Light Committee (presentation).

King County

Sen Rebecca Saldaña is running for the County Council seat vacated by Girmay Zahillay when he became Executive.

The Executive Office of Climate has been disbanded, and its responsibilities have been migrated to other departments, with coordination coming from the Office of the Executive. From the Executive's Office: "A total of 27 climate positions that had been part of the Executive Climate Office are now based in three Cabinet agencies – the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the Department of Executive Services, and King County Metro – a structure that improves coordination and increases efficiency. " The Executive plans to recruit a "Climate & Sustainability Policy Lead who will be based in the Executive Office’s new Policy and Innovation team to help ensure we’re achieving our goals." As of writing, there is no open position listed for this on the County job postings site.

Sound Transit

Sound Transit Reveals New Cost-Saving Measures for West Seattle Link (The Urbanist). The costs had become very inflated, which was endangering the project. Sound Transit thinks it can bring the costs down to close to what was originally budgeted by making a number of design changes, including cancelling the proposed station at Avalon. The Sound Transit board also got a look at three potential plans for the Ballard link, where the cost estimates are far above the revenue that has been set aside. Possible approaches include deferring the West Seattle link, which has already been approved by the Federal government, or deferring the line from Kirkland to Issaquah, where planning hasn't started yet. The Ballard Link is likely to cost at least $17B, far more than any other ST project, but it also would have the highest ridership gains as well. The Board seems to be at an early stage of figuring out what to do.

State

WA and Oregon scale back I-5 bridge ambitions (Washington State Standard). Cost estimates for the replacement bridge for the I-5 crossing over the Columbia from Vancouver to Portland have doubled to $14B. Gov Ferguson held a press conference to announce that the bridge replacement would be going forward, but that some of the ancillary projects (i.e., highway widening around the bridge) would be put on hold. Just a bridge replacement with a light rail connection would cost $7.6B, and a replacement that allows for light rail but doesn't build it would be $5.9B. Replacing the bridge is important because the current bridge is old, and is likely to fail in a major earthquake, making it difficult or impossible to get emergency supplies in.

Legislative Session Wrapup. Here a (very quick and incomplete) summary of some of the climate-related bills that passed the Legislature this year. 

• The Millionaire's Tax.  

• Strip malls to housing requires cities to allow redevelopment of commercial  areas for housing. This will reportedly open up 3000+ parcels just in Seattle.

• Establish a new electrical transmission planning authority to insure that we have capacity to grow the electrical grid to meet new demand. 

• Landlords must allow use of portable air conditioners to protect people from extreme heat.

• Allow the Weatherization Program to do community scaled projects

• A number of bills to streamline home construction: allow smaller elevators, allow scissor stairs for multiple exit paths, limit liability for condos in small buildings, streamline permitting for STEP housing to allow more emergency housing shelters and homelessness aid

• Allow Rivian & Lucid to do test drives and direct sales in state as Tesla (which was grandfathered in) can already do.

And on the budget: the Legislature directed $540 million in CCA to fill budget holes, with a vague promise to pay it back later. The Transportation Budget included $1.3B funds borrowed in order to pay for highway maintenance. This means going forward we will have more of our money going to repay loans, but at least the roads will be in better shape. The State has been implicitly borrowing money for years simply by skimping on maintenance, and this is a bill that is coming due now. All of the highway expansion projects approved in the last major transportation budget are coming in over budget, and the Legislature has worked on continuing to fund them rather than scaling back or cancelling them.

Elsewhere

Carbon Mapper released a map of world's largest methane emitters, using data from a satellite that tracks GHG emissions (Revealed: the world’s worst mega-leaks, Guardian). Most of the really big emission sites are in Turkmenistan, but there are large plumes also coming from the Permian Basin in Texas, some of which are 4 times larger than had been reported by industry (Sen Whitehorse is investigating). What the map shows locally for us in Washington is that plumes in western Washington are attributed to solid waste sites, while plumes in eastern Washington are more likely from livestock.

Climate News 2.26.2026

Seattle

Nilu Jenks announced that she will run for the open seat in District 5 this year, replacing interim councillor Debora Juarez. She has qualified for Democracy Vouchers. She ran for the seat in 2021 with a strong climate platform and came in a close third in the primary. Since then she has been working for Fair Vote Washington.

SDOT released the Transportation Levy Delivery Plan for 2026. In 2024, Seattle voters approved a new 8-year Transportion Levy, and this document details the work they plan to get done this year. See pg 6 for a map of the city with all the projects listed. 

The new tax for social housing brought in twice the amount of money the was originally projected. The Seattle Social Housing Developer will have $115 million to acquire existing apartment buildings and develop new ones. The developer is planning to buy 300 new units in 2026.

King County

A coalition of advocates is pushing for a King County Transit Funding Measure in 2026. This would be similar to (and possibly replace) the Seattle Transit Measure that funds extra bus service and transit infrastructure improvements for Seattle, and would appear as a question on the November ballot simlar to the transportation or libraries levy. The coalition includes Transportation Choices Coalition, the Nondrivers Alliance, and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587.

State

Prices on our state carbon market have reached a record high. Climate Commitment Act auctions have raised $1.1B since Sept. The Sept price was $64.30, which went up in Dec. to $70.86. This triggered an additional auction, to be held in February. In all, the CCA has raised $4.3B.

Elsewhere

Emissions in the US went up by 2.5% in 2025, according to a preliminary report from the Rhodium Group. Increases in the power sector were caused by higher natural gas prices which meant that more coal was used for power generation. In addition, demand for power is increasing. From Canary Media: “This year is a bit of a warning sign on the power sector,” Gaffney said. ​“With growing demand, if we continue meeting it with the dirtiest of the fossil generators that currently exist, that’s going to increase emissions.” Cold weather drove increased emissions from heating buildings. Trump's anti-climate policies have not (yet) had a big impact. Overall U.S. emissions are 6% below pre-pandemic levels and 18% lower than in 2005.

Congestion pricing in NYC is meeting its goals. Pollution and traffic in the tolled zone is down by 11%, and traffic outside the zone has not changed. The zone has raised $500M for public transit. And business has improved as well: the number of visitors is up 3.4% and sales tax revenue is up 6.3%.

Climate superfund laws to make the oil and gas industry pay for climate cleanup are moving forward in multiple states. New York and Vermont already have laws on the books, and  legislation has been proposed in Maine, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, Colorado, Minnesota, and Rhode Island. Climate superfund laws are modeled on the federal Superfund program, which was established in 1980 to hold corporations financially accountable for cleaning up soil contamination they had caused. These laws are opposed by the Trump administration, which has sued to block them.

Archived climate news from 2025