Climate News 2024

Climate News 12/19/24

Seattle

The new Emissions Inventory is out. Emissions are inventoried every two years, and there is a two year delay between when the data is collected and when the report is complete. This inventory is for the year 2022. For the core inventory, transportation is up 6%, and building emissions are up 4%. Overall, this represents a decline of 12% against the baseline of 2008. This is some progress I guess, but the reality we're left with is we took 14 years to get 12% reduction, and we have just 5 more years to get 42% more in reductions by 2030. 

Comprehensive Plan open comment period ends tomorrow, Dec. 20. The Seattle Planning Commission filed a letter to the city with many suggested changes. With the resignation of Tammy Morales, Joy Hollingsworth will be the chair of the Select Committee for the Comprehensive Plan. The Committee will consider the Comprehensive Plan in two parts; first, the proposed changes to the Neighborhood Residential Zones; and, second, changes to the Neighborhood and Urban Centers. OPCD will submit legislation to Council in March for the first part, and by May for the second part.

Sara Nelson announced she will run for reelection in 2025. We will have five city positions on the ballot: Mayor (Harrell is running), Nelson's at large position, Rinck's at large position, a replacement for Tammy Morales in D2 position, and the City Attorney position. The City Council will be appointing an interim D2 Councilmember; they are accepting applications now, and are required to make an appointment by Jan. 27.

State

King County, Seattle, Climate Solutions, Front & Centered, Washington Conservation Action and others filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of I-2066, which sought to rollback state laws on natural gas in new construction, and future planning. The plaintiffs argue that the initiative is too broad, addresses more than one subject and targets multiple laws, regulations, and programs. They also describe the title as misleading. An initial hearing is expected in Jan. or Feb. in King County Superior Court. Meanwhile supporters of I-2066 have filed a different lawsuit to require compliance.

A number of advocacy groups have announced their legislative agendas for the next session. 

• The Environmental Priorities Coalition is working to protect advanced clean trucks, invest Climate Commitment Act funds in appropriate projects, ,sewage spill right to know,  and the ReWrap Act for producer responsibility.

• Sightline is working to reduce or remove parking minimums in some areas in order to reduce the cost of housing. They believe that this will make many more residential buildings commercially viable to build.

• Futurewise is backing rent stabilization, which would set a cap on how much landlords can raise rents each year, and transit oriented development to allow more homes near transit. They are also looking at a set of policies to address housing shortages in rural areas.

• Front & Centered will be briefing on its Legislative Priorities on Jan 7 at noon. Looks like they will be working on the CURB Act, to protect overburdened communities from getting more pollution, and the Right To Energy to ensure energy assistance  for low income residents.

• Climate Solutions will announce their priorities in Jan.

Washington held its first carbon allowance auction since the repeal, and the price went up to $40.26. That's higher than the price in Sept., but down significantly from the high. Our market will likely merge soon with CA and Quebec, which is expected to reduce prices further.

Elsewhere

Congestion pricing in New York City is back on. The original plan, put on hold by the governor in June, would have applied a $15/day fee for driving in lower Manhattan. The governor has reduced the fee to $9/day and plans to start enforcement on Jan. 5. The toll will be gradually raised to $15/day by 2031. The proceeds go to funding public transportation.  There are 10 different lawsuits challenging the plan, and although New York has permission from the Federal Government, Trump has been clear that he is opposed to congestion pricing.

New York is also starting a Cap and Invest program in Jan. The program sounds similar to the CCA, with 30% of the funds going to direct rebates. The state is also rebalancing its energy efficiency programs to provide more of the funding to heat pumps and weatherization  (previously most of the funding went to light bulbs).

Climate News 12.9.24

Seattle

Alexis Mercedes Rinck was sworn in as Seattle's new at-large Council representative, replacing Tanya Woo. She is now the chair of the Sustainability, City Light, Arts & Culture Committee, and also sits on the Transportation Committee and the Land Use Committee. 

Tammy Morales announced that she will be resigning her Council position effective Jan 2 (Publicola). The City Council will appoint a new councilmember to fill the position on an interim basis until a new Councilmember for District 2 is chosen in the November election. Tammy Morales was chair of the Land Use Committee; unless committee assignments are rejiggered, her replacement could end up responsible for shepherding the Comprehensive Plan through its approval process in the Council.

King County

King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay announced he will run for Executive, joining fellow Councilmember Claudia Balducci and County Assessor John Wilson in a race to replace Dow Constantine.

State

Climate pollution surges in Washington state after pandemic lull (KUOW).  After dropping 14% in 2020, emissions grew 7% in 2022, according to the EPA. The State will release a new emissions inventory for 2020 and 2021 this month. Seattle is also expected to release its emissions inventory for 2022 this month. "At the pace of emissions reported for 2021 and 2022, Washington state is not on track to meet its 45% reduction mandate for 2030."

Lawmakers have begun filing bills in advance of the 2025 Legislative Session, which is starting Jan. 13. This will be a long session, running through April 27, which leaves a little more time to pass bills, but the Legislature is also on the hook to pass a new two year budget. Revenues are down, so that could be challenging. Here are some things that we have heard may be coming:

• Rewrap is back – producer responsibility for better recycling.

• EV car tab fees in lieu of gas tax replaced by road usage fee? This bill has been up at least twice before.

• Energy labelling for residential buildings (HB 1015 Duerr)

Elsewhere

Massachusetts passed a  "climate bill that will limit gas pipeline expansion, make it easier to site and build renewables, and allow utilities to use geothermal energy — instead of fossil fuels — to heat and cool homes." (Canary Media)

Climate News 11.23.24

Seattle

City Council finalized its 2025 budget, and passed a bill that eliminates the restrictions on moving funds from JumpStart to the General Fund. This locks in cuts to affordable housing and the Green New Deal for years to come. Several different amendments to limit how much money can be transferred were defeated. A proposal to enact a city capital gains tax was also defeated, but may be revisited next year. The budget does have about $8M in cuts, including to the city's IT department, to environmental learning centers, city permitting and inspections, and renter services. Going forward, city revenues will be more dependent on JumpStart, which is volatile because it is mostly paid by one company (Amazon, which is moving workers to Bellevue), and highly dependent on the stock market.

King County

County Executive Dow Constantine announced he will not run for reelection in 2025. Councilmember Claudia Balducci and County Assessor John Wilson have announced plans to run for County Executive. Councilmember Girmay Zahilay has said that he is strongly considering running, and will decide in the next week.

Sound Transit

The preferred alternative for a new Link station in Pioneer Square is looking more likely now after  a report on the Ballard Link line had bad news for a 4th Ave. station in Chinatown-International District (The Urbanist). The 4th Ave station would be a good interchange between the two Link lines, as well as to Amtrak and local buses, but it would also be very close to BNSF tracks, and that is a huge risk factor because a massive wall would have to be built between the Link construction site and BNSF, and even so BNSF would be able to stop work on the Link at any time. (see here for the slides from the presentation).

The Ballard Link is undergoing an environmental review of alternatives. In Ballard, the preferred alternative is a tunnel under the Ship Canal from Interbay/17th Ave W. to Ballard/15th Ave W & NW Market St. The alternatives include a tunnel to 14th Ave W. and a bridge over the canal to either 14th Ave W. or 15th Ave W. The Sound Transit site has more information on Ballard, as well as the route through Interbay and Downtown, and you can make a comment by Dec. 9. Feedback can also be emailed to ballardlink@soundtransit.org.

State

The State Senate has announced committee positions. Jamie Pedersen (D43) will be the new Majority Leader. Noel Frame will be Ways & Means vice chair of Finance. This is a new position, and may signal a big push on progressive tax overhaul, especially given the State's budget deficit. Overall, Ways & Means will have 15 Democrats and 9 Republicans, and some of the most conservative Democrats have left, so it may be easier to get progressive bills passed.  Incoming state Senator Jessica Bateman was appointed chair of the Senate Housing Committee. Previously, she was chair of the House Housing Committee. Jesse Salomon will chair the Local Government Committee. Sharon Shewmake will chair Agriculture & Natural Resources. The House is expected to announce its committee positions in Dec., and some may wait until early Jan. The Legislative Session will start on Jan. 13.

What's up with natural gas laws now that I-2066 was approved? The Building Industry Association of Washington, a backer of the initiative, called on the State Building Code Council to revoke the Energy Codes and rewrite them by Dec. 5 to avoid a legal challenge. The Building Code Council, on the other hand, plans to take more time to analyze the situation. "Kjell Anderson, chair of the technical advisory group that wrote the energy codes, argued that the initiative’s premise that the regulations now incentivize electric heat pumps over natural gas is wrong." Meanwhile, members of the No on 2066 coalition are planning to sue I-2066, claiming that it violates the single subject rule for initiatives. (Washington State Standard) 

Elsewhere

Redmond has approved a new Comprehensive Plan that calls for urban centers around the new Sound Transit light rail stations, and is encouraging developers to create two and three bedroom apartments suitable for families. They are planning for "corner stores", and making it easier to have retail stores in residential neighborhoods. Redmond is also planning to create 100 units of supportive housing. Of the 20,000 new units of housing expected, half will be reserved for people making less than 30% of area median income. From 2023 to 2024, Redmond had the third greatest level of growth in the Puget Sound, behind Seattle, and just barely behind Tacoma. Redmond currently has a population of 82,000; by comparison, if Seattle built the same proportion of housing units to population, it would get 195,000 new housing units; the Seattle Mayor's current plan calls for about half that. (Axios)

The California Air Resources Board voted to update the low carbon fuel standard, which incentivizes producers to cut emissions. The new plan will increase the state's emission reduction targets, increase funding for EV chargers, and phase out incentives to capture methane emissions from dairy farms to turn into fuel. A cost analysis from the agency estimated this would raise gas prices by 47 cents/gallon by 2025. Danny Cullenward, a climate economist, estimates that by 2030 it could be 85 cents/gallon, and as much as $1.50/gallon by 2035. He is saying that the agency hasn't made a good case linking the increased costs to decreased emissions.

Climate News 11/4/24

Seattle

The City has revised its revenue projections downward by $48.6M, about .5% of the General Fund total. This means that additional cuts will have to be made to the City budget. Sales tax and business & occupation tax revenues are down, while office vacancy rates continued to rise and are projected to increase significantly more in Seattle than in the U.S. or in the rest of the Seattle metro region. Expectation is that the JumpStart payroll tax will be higher than previously estimated because the stock market has been doing well. 

Council Budget Committee chair Dan Strauss released the Balancing Package, with a significant year-over-year decrease to spending on climate. This takes into account the updated revenue projections, the requested priorities of the councilmembers, and is the new draft balanced budget going forward. The new budget provides $18M in Green New Deal funding in 2025 and 2026, which is 8% of the JumpStart funds after the money for the General Fund has been removed. This is an absolute decrease from spending in 2024 ($18M compared to $25M last year), and also a decrease in the relative percentage of JumpStart funds allocated (8% down from 9% last year). In spite of all this, the City is projecting a continued deficit in the General Fundthrough at least 2028 of an average of $100M per year.. The Budget Committee will have a public meeting on Nov. 12 at 5pm to hear comments from residents on the new draft budget and General Revenue Sources for 2025, including a possible property tax increase. 

Port of Seattle

The Port of Seattle has released the draft environmental assessment for its Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) for public comment. The SAMP is the Port's plan for growing the airport to meet projected increased passenger and cargo demand, avoid aircraft delays on the field, increase the amount of fuel stored at the airport, and to comply with federal guidelines. The Port proposes adding a second terminal with 19 gates, an elevated busway to connect the main terminal, new terminal, and car rental, new parking garage for the new terminal, new fuel and cargo facilities, and realigning the existing roadways. Community and climate advocates point out that the airport is already responsible for hugely negative health impacts on the local community from air and noise pollution, as well as hugely negative global effects from the staggering level of GHG emissions from the airplane flights it enables. Expanding the Port, with a projected 27% more flights, will add to all of these problems. The 350 Seattle aviation team is holding a webinar on the SAMP on Nov. 11, click here to register for it. The Port will accept comments on the SAMP from now to Dec 5.

The Port of Seattle received grants from the US EPA under the Clean Port program, which will grant almost $3B to "fund zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure as well as climate and air quality planning." The Port of Seattle received about $3M for a study on how to decarbonize harbor vessels. The Northwest Seaport Alliance received a $3M grant for planning for a new breakbulk (non-container) cargo terminal in Tacoma. "Expected activities include completing a baseline emissions inventory and feasibility analysis of ZE technology to inform the development of a plan to transition 40 pieces of CHE and light-duty vehicles to zero-emissions, and engineering and design for shore power. A workforce development and climate resilience needs assessment will be prepared as part of the planning process." The Ports of Anacortes and Bellingham also received grants under this program.

Elsewhere

California passed a bill to help decarbonize buildings neighborhood by neighborhood. Most policies in the US until now have focused on one building at a time, this one is launching an array of pilot projects to voluntarily decarbonize entire neighborhoods. This allows the local gas company to prune the network, so it reduces overhead for maintaining the entire network.

Ontario tabled a new law that would require local municipalities to get provincial approval before putting in any bike lane that would replace a lane of vehicle traffic. This article, which came out in response, is a good summation of research from around the world (including New York City) showing that adding bike capacity reduces traffic congestion and boosts local businesses.

Climate News 10.18.24

Seattle

The City released a draft version of the new zoning maps that are part of the Comprehensive Plan, with some modest improvements to density. The new plan has added six Neighborhood Centers, where apartment buildings could be as tall as 6 stories. It no longer exempts areas from the State's Middle Housing requirements.  It also follows those requirements more closely, allowing up to 4 units in Neighborhood Residential, or six in areas with frequent transit, with density bonuses for stacked flats – but these changes only apply where lot sizes are >6000 sq feet, which is mostly in the north end. Housing advocates are pleased to see the changes, but point out the need for more, including:

• Neighborhood Residential: increase the development potential of 4- and 6-plexes to allow for up to 3-bedroom apartments for family housing.

• Transit-Oriented Development: Allow midrise housing within a 1/4 mile walkshed of frequent transit stops, not just along the arterial, so that renters may have the choice to live on quieter streets.

• Neighborhood Centers:  Expand the size to maximize their potential (currently they are just a few blocks).

• Affordability: Make the density bonus big enough that public funds are not required to make affordable housing pencil out.

• Urban Centers: Increase the height limits in Capitol Hill, the U District, Ballard, and Northgate to 85 feet.

The link above has mechanisms for providing feedback online. In addition, city planners will host a series of engagement sessions where residents can learn more, ask questions, and provide feedback:

The City has been working on the 2025-26 budget. Here's a timeline for the budget process:

• The Budget Committee is currently hearing presentations from Council staff on policy considerations.

• Oct 22: Updated revenue forecast. The budget must be balanced, and typically the draft budget is prepared with conservative estimates for revenue. If the forecasts come in above what was used in the draft, then there are extra funds that can be disbursed for Council priorities. If the forecasts come up short, that signals a need for cuts in the draft budget.

• Oct 30: Budget Chair's Balancing Budget. The Chair of the Budget Committee presents a proposed balanced budget based on the updated revenue projections, and the priorities of the Council.

• Nov 1: Deadline for Councilmembers to submit budget amendments.

• Nov 5: Public hearing for the Council to hear feedback on the budget proposal

• Nov 13-15: Budget Committee votes on amendments

• Nov 21:  Council approves final budget

• The Mayor then has the option to approve, veto, or let the budget pass without signing, usually by sometime in early Dec.

The proposed budget for the Office of Sustainability and Environment is about $30M which is a 15% reduction over the previous budget. The Environmental Justice Fund would be cut in half, and the Indigenous Led Climate Initiative would also be significantly cut. The budget does include $30M from recently received grants, and increases FTEs by 1. The cost for implementation of Building Emissions Performance Standards is down by $500K due to savings identified by the City's IT department for compliance software. The drayage electrification pilot for short-haul trucking to/from the Port that the City has been running is done, and that work is transitioning as Federal and State resources will be deployed at a regional level for drayage electrification. And they will be reducing workforce development spending and the Duwamish programs.

The City Council approved new Energy Codes, as part of a set of building code changes. The new codes set energy efficiency standards in commercial buildings, and are slightly stricter than the State's commercial energy code. There had been a push to delay the new codes, but now they are approved and will go into effect on Nov. 15.

The City Council passed a resolution in opposition to I-2117, the initiative to repeal the Climate Commitment Act. So, reversing the double negative, they expressed support for the CCA.

The Stranger endorsed Prop 1, the Transportation Levy ballot measure that normally provides about one third of the City's transportation funding. The Seattle Times, on the contrary, favors a No vote (this is consistent with its endorsements in previous years). In addition, The Stranger endorsed Alexis Mercedes Rinck for City Council, and the the Seattle Times endorsed her opponent, Tanya Woo.

King County

King County Metro Faces Looming Budget Cliff, the Urbanist reported after a recent King County Budget hearing. Without action, Metro will run out of money in 2028, and will have to decide between service cutbacks, scaling back investments in electric buses, or raising additional revenue. In the meantime, there is some good news: ridership on the new RapidRide G line is about 250% more than ridership on the comparable Route 12. In general, although Metro is slowly increasing service back to pre-pandemic levels, ridership is lagging and weekday ridership is only about 65% of what it was in 2019.

The draft budget for the Office of Climate is $5.6M, a 69% increase over the previous budget, in spite of the fact that the County in general is having to make cuts this year. Here are some of the highlights:

• $800K for Resilient Communities, to improve resilience from climate events, especially for frontline communities.

• $600K for Decarbonization Planning and Implementation, including two FTE positions for building and transportation climate policies.

• $385K for a new Chief of Staff position and an assistant

• $300K for a Climate Performance Tracking Dashboard that will also include information about Grants.

The Office of Climate has $19.4M in grants that have either been awarded or are likely to be awarded and one of them is large enough for them to hire FTEs to work on building decarbonization initiatives.

Also, they reported that the County is falling short on its goal for vehicle electrification of the County's fleet for 50% of the light duty vehicles to be electric by 2025. They will likely only achieve 250 of a total 856 in the goal, due to delays in getting recharging infrastructure installed.

As in the last budget cycle, they noted that the County is running a large maintenance deficit on county roads, and spending only a quarter of what is required to maintain them. As a result, expenses are going up for repaving and some bridges will need to be completely replaced. The funding outlook has changed as tax revenue is lower due to the fact that many areas have been incorporated into cities and no longer pay road taxes, but the amount of roads the County is responsible for has not changed much. A new model is needed before 2029.

State

The County Council voted through a resolution opposing I-2066, the initiative to protect natural gas investments. Bellingham, Olympia, Vancouver, Sammamish, and Kirkland have passed similar resolutions. And The Stranger endorsed a No vote. The Seattle Times endorsed a Yes vote.

Climate News 10.2.24

Seattle

The Mayor presented his proposed budget for the City to Council. The City is facing a $260M deficit, and needs to have a balanced budget by the end of the year. The Mayor's proposal is to take $287M from funds that would normally be allocated to affordable housing and the Green New Deal, and change the law to make this possible every year going forward. The draft budget would also cut 167 city jobs. These reductions would more than cover the $260M deficit, but are necessary because of increased spending on the Mayor's priorities (mostly for public safety).

The City Council Land Use Committee passed the Seattle Energy Code update, which is scheduled to come before the full Council on Oct. 8 at 2pm, and would go into effect on Nov 15. Apparently there are business interests that would like this vote further delayed until after the election.

City Council voted to put the I-137 proposal for funding social housing using a tax on businesses with individuals who make more than $1M dollars side by side with an alternative proposal that funds the social housing authority for 5 years using money already slated for affordable housing. Proponents for this new alternative argue that this gives the new authority a chance to prove that they can do a good job with the public's money. Proponents for the original social housing initiative argue that not only does this pit the new social housing authority against existing affordable housing developers as they compete for funding, but also that the new proposal isn't social housing. Social housing is for housing people of different income levels together and having the higher income people subsidize the lower income people. Both proposals will be on the ballot in February.

Construction is beginning on the Eastlake Rapid Ride J line, which will replace Metro Route 70. It will run from the UDistrict light rail station to downtown along Roosevelt and Eastlake Avenues. Service is planned to launch in 2027.  

Sound Transit

New estimates for the cost of the new Link light rail to West Seattle have increased by $2.7 to $3.1 billion, up by 67-77%. Some of this seems to be down to poor decision making, but much of it is just inflation in construction costs. It is reasonable to expect that when detailed estimates for the Ballard line are completed, they also may have similar cost overruns. The project is moving ahead anyway, but the increased costs may cause a delay on the entire project as it waits for more funds to come in. Sound Transit Board forges ahead with West Seattle Link despite cost jumps (The Urbanist).

State

Greenline Insights released a report on the economic impact of the Climate Commitment Act which concludes that it adds $9.1B to the local economy and 45,000 jobs that pay an average of $91,000 each. This represents a return on investment of $13 for every $1 raised by the State. All of this would end if I-2117 is passed.

KUOW SoundSide is interviewing proponents and opponents of the four statewide initiatives. One of them was an interview with Leah Missik from Climate Solutions on why you should vote no on I-2066. SoundSide's description of I-2066 is "Simply speaking, the initiative is aimed at guaranteeing utility customers’ access to natural gas by repealing certain provisions in this year's earlier natural gas bill, 1589, and changing state building codes."  All I can say is, nothing is simple about what this initiative would do.

Climate News 9.5.24

Seattle

Seattle received a $5.5M grant from FEMA to install air conditioning at five branch libraries: Columbia, Fremont, Queen Anne, University, and West Seattle as part of a program to establish resilience hubs. FEMA will supply 90% of the funding, and the remaining costs are split evenly between the City and the State. Completion is expected in two years.

Seattle received $17.2M grant to support the new Building Emissions Performance Standards from the US Department of Energy under the Inflation Reduction Act's support for Latest and Zero Building Codes provision. The money will be used to fund enhanced services for building owners making conversions, starting in late 2025 and 2026.

Seattle's Commercial Energy Code update has been proposed by the mayor to council. ShiftZero notes that as a result of advocacy, "these code updates are significant to support alignment and compliance with Seattle’s BEPS policy, and are a foundation for keeping the city on a path to emissions reduction goals." They are before the Council now, and if approved will go into effect in November.

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways has voted to endorse Seattle's Transportation Levy, on the ballot in November, and you can read their rationale here. Ryan Packer appeared on the Hacks and Wonks podcast, and in addition to an excellent conversation about Vision 0, talked in depth about the Levy (audio here, starting at 33:30).

City Council continues to delay action on I-137, the city initiative to fund social housing. The initiative has enough signatures, but the city hasn't yet acted to put it on the ballot, or decided whether to add a competing initiative alongside.

State

The Seattle Times has endorsed a No vote on I-2117. Volunteer opportunities to help out the No campaign are here.

The Northwest Progressive Institute released polling results for I-2117 and I-2066 showing both are polling below 50%. Polls from July reported in the Seattle Times on the contrary suggested that a Yes vote was more likely.

I-2066 is a state-wide initiative on the ballot that would basically make it impossible to make laws around transitioning off natural gas. The No on I-2066 campaign has set up a website here, and ShiftZero has a one-pager on it. Among other local impacts that would have on us, it would remove large parts of Seattle and King County's Commercial Energy Codes and rollback Seattle's Building Emissions Performance Standards. Individuals can pledge to vote no, Groups can endorse opposition, and cities and counties can pass resolutions opposing it (example draft resolution).

The Commerce Dept has announced $26M in grants for grid resiliency and reliability under the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. "Projects that increase the reliability and resiliency of power grids within small utility territories are eligible for this funding. Projects must improve the reliability and resilience of the grid against disruptive events, such as extreme weather, wildfires, and/or natural disasters."

Elsewhere

Berkeley, which passed a gas ban that was overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court is making another pass at transitioning off the fossil fuel. It has a city initiative on the November ballot that would levy a tax on gas for large building owners, and give the proceeds to lower income building owners to fund the transition.

Climate News 8.5.24

Seattle

New budget projections are in, and the city's projected deficit has increased slightly again to $260M (Seattle Times, paywall). Revenues from all of the taxes that go into the General Fund are down, while the JumpStart payroll revenue is up.  It is anticipated that the Mayor and the new Council will try to raid the JumpStart funds for at least some of the deficit, and that they will enact some cuts as well. The Mayor has asked each city department to prepare its budget including a scenario for 40% cuts. The budget deficit is projected to continue over years, and the JumpStart funding is likely to be quite variable over that time.

The full Council will hear I-137, the funding mechanism for the social housing initiative on Tuesday, Aug 6. The Council will decide whether the initiative will appear on the Nov. ballot, or the Feb. ballot, and whether it will add an alternative for the voters to go alongside.  The Council could also decide to pass the initiative outright.

Seattle City Light presented a draft Integrated Resources Plan, and an update on the Strategic Plan to council. The plan forecasts a greater rise in demand over the next two decades than previously expected. The plan calls for rate increases of 5.4% to cover inflation and costs of new power generation. It cites winter peak demand as being the most difficult to meet, and calls for new firm clean power sources.

The City Council Transportation Committee is meeting to discuss a new taskforce to investigate alternatives for funding infrastructure projects, mainly road repair, bridges, and sidewalks.  This task force was established by the legislation that approved the Transportation Levy for the ballot, and although it cites the Transportation Benefit District as a possible source of revenue, it does not include any transit improvements as part of its goal; this could mean reduced revenue for transit.

King County

The EPA awarded the County a $50M grant to reduce emissions from multi-family residential and commercial buildings. It covers weatherization, replacing gas boilers with heat pumps, and reducing embodied carbon in new buildings, particularly in disadvantaged comunites. It will focus on the four county region that includes King, Snohomish, Pierce, and Kitsap Counties.

State

The Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility issued I-2117: A Risk to Our Health. “Repealing the CCA would reverse significant public health advancements, particularly for our most overburdened communities."  Key health benefits at risk include:

• Improved Air Quality: Investments have significantly reduced the risk of respiratory conditions like asthma, especially in children

• Cardiovascular Health: Lower air pollution levels, which will lessen heart attack and stroke incidents

• Mental Health: Enhanced urban green spaces promote physical activity and mental well-being

• Heat Protection: Urban forestry projects mitigate extreme heat risks 

Climate News 7.8.24

Seattle

Council votes tomorrow on the final form of the Transportation Levy for the November ballot. When originally proposed back in April, it was $1.35B, but through advocacy it is now a larger levy with $149 million in additional funding for multi-modal transportation. Big changes in this levy over past years is money for new people streets and public spaces, additional funding for sidewalk construction, $113.5 million for bike safety, $41 million for equity focused safety improvements, and $70 million for Vision Zero projects on the most unsafe streets in the city. Many, many people spoke up along the way to get these improvements, but a lot of the work was spearheaded by Disability Rights Washington and Seattle Greenways.

I-137, the social housing initiative, turned in signatures, and is likely headed for the ballot, either in November or February. The previous initiative approved a social housing authority, and this new initiative would provide funding for social housing using an excess compensation payroll tax applied to companies with employees who are paid more than $1M. The income from the measure is expected to be about $50M/year, and would be dedicated to social housing.

King County

An audit of King County Metro finds it unlikely that Metro will be able to meet their goals for electrifying its bus fleet by 2035 (Seattle Times, paywall). Metro expressed confidence that they can do it, but it is not clear what, if anything, they are doing to mitigate the risks raised in the audit.

State

I-2066 has turned in 400,000 signatures, and is on track to appear on the November ballot. If approved, this initiative would overturn key parts of the law passed this last session to transition Puget Sound Energy away from methane (natural gas). It would also bar cities from making their own rules against methane usage, and nullify recent changes to the State's Energy Code designed to get more electric heat pumps in new housing instead of gas furnaces. The initiative was put forward by BIAW, the home building association, and managed by Let's Go Washington, which put forward 6 other conservative initiatives earlier this year. There is a coalition of environmental organizations forming to oppose the initiative.

The State has released a draft of the proposed linkage of the Washington carbon allowances market under the Climate Commitment Act to the California & Quebec market. There will be a webinar on it July 10 from 2 – 4 p.m.

BNSF has been ordered to pay the Swinonish Tribe almost $400 million for trespassing by sending crude oil through tribal land in rail cars repeatedly over years, violating a 1991 agreement.

Elsewhere

You may remember about two months ago I reported on a demonstration outside Amazon headquarters, protesting Amazon's support for a new natural gas pipeline to carry fracked gas from Canada to Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Now, Amazon has announced that it will not use gas from this pipeline for its new data center, as previously planned (Seattle Times, paywall). Kudos to the protesters for highlighting an issue that was passing under most folk's radar!

The EPA released the fifth edition of the Climate Change Indicators. It observes: "U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have decreased slightly since 1990, but still make up a sizable share of the world’s emissions." Most of Washington has experienced between 1-2 degrees of warming in the last hundred years; many of the other parts of the country have not fared as well.

Emissions from air freight is up 25% since 2019, according to a recent report from stand.earth. The US accounts for 40% of the world's air freight emissions. It observes: "Research published last year forecast that global annual parcel volume could increase to 800bn parcels a year by 2030 [PDF], compared with 315bn in 2022."

Climate News 6.10.24

Seattle

Councilmember Maritza Rivera withdrew a controversial budget proviso that could have frozen about $53M in previously-approved funding for anti-displacement housing. The Council did pass a requirement for more detailed reporting on how the money is spent.

ShiftZero issued a letter on the proposed draft changes to Seattle Commercial Energy Codes. Marco Lowe from the Mayor's Office has proposed reductions to the original energy provisions, and this letter is in response. The codes are being discussed in the Construction Codes Advisory Board (CCAB).

King County

King County Metro reported ridership is up by 22% from a year ago. Ridership is up across all modes, but has not yet returned to 2019 levels. Ridership in 2023 was 62% of what it was in 2019, and service hours were also only 83% of what they were in 2019 due to labor shortages. Trips are now spread out more throughout the day. Surveys show that "“service quality, specifically on-time performance, is the largest barrier to taking transit more often, followed by safety, availability, convenience, and cost.” Metro is preparing bus route changes around the Link opening of Lynnwood, East Link, and Federal Way South, the opening of the RapidRide G up Madison, and Stride BRT on I-405. They plan to focus on stabilizing and growing their busiest routes.

State

Amtrak Cascades rail service will now have free fares for youth 18 and younger. Funded by the Move Ahead Washington transportation package, and the Climate Commitment Act.

The Dept of Ecology has published new rules governing emissions from landfills that should reduce the methane emissions by about 38%, equivalent to removing about 308,000 gas powered cars from the road. These new standards follow from the State's passage in 2022 of HB 1663. Washington now joins Oregon, California, and Maryland in having state limits that are stronger than the Federal standards. To meet the new regulations, more landfills will have to capture the methane, as well as fix methane leaks. Nationwide, many landfills are emitting more than is allowed, just because there is lax enforcement. There is more that could be done at the State level, the article notes: "Advocates wanted to see the state require landfills to use methane detection technology that would help landfills conduct more complete methane surveys, and require gas collection systems to be put in place faster. Landfills can wait five years after they expand before they’re required to put in a gas collection system, but food waste decays much faster than that."

Elsewhere

New York Gov Hochul has put New York City's congestion pricing program on indefinite hold. It was scheduled to go into effect at the end of June. Congestion pricing was widely expected to reduce GHG emissions, as well as funding the city's transit system. Now it is not clear where the funding that the transit system needs will come from. Speculation is that the Governor was concerned that more suburban commuters would work from home, imperiling downtown recovery. However, research from smaller, pedestrian zones in Manhattan shows increased sales after traffic was reduced. Robinson Meyer from Heatmap, one of the foremost climate reporters in the country, wrote: "If it holds, then Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision today to delay congestion pricing indefinitely in New York will be a generational setback for climate policy in the United States." He wrote an excellent piece that goes into the implications of the decision for Heatmap Daily, Kathy Hochul's Climate Betrayal.

The Biden Administration issued new fuel mileage standards (NYT, paywall), requiring automakers to have a fleet average of 65 mile per gallon by 2031. Along with this, the price of EVs has declined enough that more people can buy them: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable (NYT, paywall).

Climate News 5.31.24

Seattle

The Council will be hearing public comment on the Transportation Levy on Tuesday, June 4 at 4:30pm at a special meeting of the Select Committee on 2024 Transportation Levy. You can sign up here to give comment starting at 3:30pm, or send an email to council@seattle.gov.  Advocates are asking for at least a 50/50 split of investments between cars and other modes of transportation, as well as more funding for traffic safety & sidewalks. The need for safety funding was highlighted because there were 6 traffic deaths in Seattle just in the last week. It seems there is still a lot of work to do for Vision Zero, zero traffic deaths in Seattle by 2030. Transportation Chair Rob Saka is signalling that Council may make substantial changes to the Levy. There's a good summation from the Urbanist here. 

Election filings are now finalized. The primary will be Aug. 6. Here's who is running (candidates with a * have been endorsed by their districts, but not all districts have done endorsements yet):

• For Seattle City Council Position 8, city-wide position vacated by Teresa Mosqueda, there are five contenders: Tariq Yusuf, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Tanya Woo, Saunatina Sanchez, Saul Patu.

• For the 34th State Legislative District, Joe Nguyen's term will continue. Incumbent Emily Alvarado* (D) will face challenger Kimberly M. Cloud (R). Incumbent Joe Fitzgibbon* (D) will face challenger Jolie Lansdowne (R).

• For the 36th State Legislative District, Noel Frame's term will continue. Incumbent Julia Grant Reed is running unopposed. Incumbent Liz Berry* (D) faces challenger Victoria Palmer (R).

• For the 37th State Legislative District, Rebecca Saldana' s term will continue, and she has withdrawn from the race for Public Lands Commissioner.  Incumbent Sharon Tomiko Santos (D) is running unopposed.  Incumbent Chipalo Street (D) faces challenger  Matt McCally (Libertarian).

• For the 43rd State Legislative District, Jamie Pedersen's term will continue, incumbent Nicole Macri is running unopposed, and there are several contenders for the seat vacated by Frank Chopp. They are: Stephanie LLoyd-Agnew (D), Shaun Scott (D) (previously ran for City Council D4), Daniel Carusello (D), Andrea Suarez (D) (Executive Director, We Heart Seattle).

• For the 46th State Legislative District, Javier Valdez's term will continue. Incumbent Gerry Pollet* (D) has two challengers, Beth Daranciang (R), and Ahndylyn Kinney (D). Incumbent Darya Farivar* (D) has one challenger, Simone Barron (R).

Councilmember Maritza Rivera put forward a budget proviso that removes about $53M in funding for anti-displacement housing that was previously approved unless the funds are spent by September, and a detailed accounting is provided by OPCD.  Housing advocates say it is basically impossible to meet these requirements. The proposal was on the agenda to be discussed on Tuesday, but a vote on it was deferred.

Sound Transit

The Sound Transit Board voted to locate the new South Lake Union Link at 7th & Harrison, as previously planned, and not at 5th Ave by Memorial Station as requested by the Chamber. The Chamber is very concerned about impacts to traffic on Westlake during construction, but the alternative location would add at least 10 months of construction delay and $500M in costs, as well as negatively impacting future ridership numbers.

State

The Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee released  its annual forecast on electrical power load, and predicts a 30% increase in demand for electricity over the next 10 years. This is higher than previous forecasts had predicted, and the increase is due to data center expansion, high tech manufacturing, and electrification. The report predicts more use of batteries and pumped hydro, and points out the need for long duration batteries because of usage peaks from multiple days of cold rain. Puget Sound Energy, for example, has announced it is partnering with Form Energy to evaluate multi-day energy storage solutions. Utilities have been adding new generation, but this has mostly been to replace fossil fuel generation, and we will need to also grow the supply to meet this new demand. Part of the new demand is for electrification of buildings and transportation. EVs are projected to be 4% of the total overall load in 10 years, but Seattle City Light, for instance, projects that EV charging could be 10% of total usage 10 years from now.

Climate News 5.12.24

Seattle

The Mayor is proposing rolling back the pro-climate provisions in the commercial building Energy Code. The new commercial building codes were adopted in 2021, and are currently scheduled to come into effect on Sept. 30. But the Construction Codes Advisory Board (CCAB) is meeting on Thursday to consider substantial changes. From the meeting announcement: "The mayor’s office is evaluating striking Seattle amendments new this code cycle that make the 2021 SEC requirements for new construction more stringent than the 2021 WA State Energy Code." It is important that Seattle continue leading on the commercial building codes, to show the rest of the state what is possible. Where Seattle leads, other jurisdictions (King County, Shoreline, other cities) often follow. Also, it's hard to see how we can reduce emissions without having more stringent standards for new buildings. The CCAB will meet on Thursday May 16, 12-2pm, in a hybrid meeting. There will be an opportunity for public comment at the meeting (meeting link is here), and comments can also be emailed to jenifer.gilliland@seattle.gov.

The public comment period for the Comprehensive Plan has been extended to Monday, May 20 at 5pm. You can provide feedback via the Engagement Hub or send email to OneSeattleCompPlan@seattle.gov.

The Council Committee of the Transportation Levy met for the first time on Tuesday, and heard reports from the Move Seattle Oversight Levy Board, as well as SDOT. They also heard public comment from about 25 different people all asking for a bigger levy, with more funding for sidewalks, transit, bikes, and electrification. Councilmembers are most likely now considering amendments. Here's the schedule of meetings on the Levy:

• May 21, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. (or after the Transportation Committee meeting)

• May 21, 2024 (Public Hearing) 4:30 p.m.

• June 4, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. (or after the Transportation Committee meeting)

• June 4, 2024 (Public Hearing) 4:30 p.m.

• June 18, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. (or after the Transportation Committee meeting)

• July 2, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. (or after the Transportation Committee meeting)

Seattle voters are very positive on transportation, according to a new poll on the Transportation Levy from the Northwest Progressive Institute. Voters want improvements in bridges, roads, bike lanes, transit, and sidewalks, and they are willing to vote in favor of a levy bigger than what the Mayor has proposed. The Mayor has proposed a $1.45B Levy; respondents to the poll prefer either a $1.7B or even more of them prefer a $1.9B Levy with more improvements. "Go Big" seems to be their message.

Elsewhere

The Biden administration is proposing new more efficient energy standards for appliances (nytimes, paywall). Republicans in Congress are complaining that they are outlawing gas stoves and other appliances, but all they are doing is introducing new standards to make them more efficient, so they will be more expensive upfront, but use less energy and hence reduce utility bills & emissions over time.

Vermont is considering a new law to make big oil companies pay for climate damages (The Guardian). The program would be similar to the Superfund program. Last July, Vermont experienced severe flooding, causing about $1B in damages. The bill would set up a fund to pay for "climate-related impacts to Vermont’s public health, biodiversity, economic development and other damages". Vermont has a Republican governor, but supporters think that they have enough votes to override a veto.

Climate News 5.4.24

Seattle

City Council will hear the new proposed Transportation Levy on Tuesday morning at 9:30 am. The Mayor released an updated draft Levy yesterday. The new proposal is slightly larger, now $1.45 billion. It has small increases in funding for walking, biking, and transit over the previous draft. It also proposes building all the new sidewalks in the first 5 years, and spending $5 million on an investigation into raising more money in the future focused on sidewalks and bridges. The new levy is likely to cost the average homewoner $41/month. Publicola notes: "Although the new levy will be larger than the Move Seattle voters passed in 2015, it will still spend less, after adjusting for inflation, on pedestrian and transit improvements than previous levies, according to an analysis by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways’ Ethan Campbell."

The City Council unanimously approved the Seattle Transportation Plan.  The Transportation Levy is expected to come before the Council next week.

The City Council voted 7-2 to reject the Equitable Housing Initiative. The proposal would have allowed non-profits and developers partnering with non-profits to build as many as 34 larger apartment buildings, if those buildings included affordable housing or social services, as part of a pilot project. Affordable housing developers argued that the pilot project would make these buildings "much more financially feasible". Tree advocates testified that there would not be enough space for trees. Councilmembers who voted no had a variety of reasons, but many said that they felt that the rents should be lower.

Seattle fell slightly in the ACEE's Clean Energy Scorecard this year, and was rated "not on track" for reaching our community goal of 58% reduction in GHG by 2030. To be fair, none of the cities with similar climate goals are on track, except for San Francisco, which is on track for 40% reduction by 2025 compared to a 1990 baseline. The fact sheet for Seattle is here, policy list here. The report notes "Seattle was one of the strongest performers among its peers, but it fell in the rankings from the previous scorecard. Seattle performed best in the local government operations category and has the most room to improve in the buildings category." The report includes data up to August 2023, so it does not include the new Buildings Emissions Performance Standards. Seattle was ranked #3 overall; #1 for number of actions, but #7 on energy equity policies, #6 on smart growth. 

Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment released a status report on the Transportation Electrification Blueprint, detailing the progress of various initiatives related to vehicle electrification. Apparently there is now inter-city electric bus service to Bellingham. And it looks like lots of work has been done on last mile freight delivery, including an e-bike program they are working on, and better management of curb space.

State

The State is preparing an EV rebate program for electric vehicles, and will pay up to $9000 for 3 or more year lease of a new vehicle, or $2500 for a purchase or lease of a used EV. The rebates are for people who make 300% or below of the Federal poverty line, and are intended for people who do not usually purchase new vehicles. This new rebate can be stacked on top of the Federal rebate from the Inflation Reduction Act,  Commerce notes that this can "make leasing an EV as low as $56 a month, with at least six models available for less than $150 a month." Coltura says that "outreach will prioritize super-commuters who drive more than 19,000 miles a year for work." WSDOT is also working on a rebate plan for e-bikes, based on $5 million in funding, according to The Urbanist.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced $7 billion in grants as part of its Solar for All campaign under the Inflation Reduction Act, and the State was awarded $156 million to pay for rooftop solar for single family, affordable muti-family, community solar, and tribal projects. Under EPA rules, funding is for low-income and disadvantaged communities. This money will be added to the $100 million the State set aside from the Climate Committment Act revenues for solar projects, much of it has already been awarded,

Gubernatorial candidates are backing a plan to buy diesel ferries in place (or in addition to?) hybrid ferries, according to the Seattle Times. Inslee remains committed to hybrid ferries, but candidates for Governor including democrat Bob Ferguson have signalled a willingness to go back to diesel.

The Seattle Times had a good article on HB 1589 to decarbonize Puget Sound Energy's gas business. Joe Nguyen describes it as a "plan for a plan", and says it allows PSE to make a plan for decarbonizing that can be paid for by ratepayers, subject to regulatory approval. The law also removes rebates for gas appliances starting next year.

Elsewhere

A new study published in Nature finds that climate change will cause an income reduction of at least 19% in the next 26 years,  independent of future emission choices. These costs are six times more than decarbonization would be, and grow further over time. "Our analysis shows that climate change will cause massive economic damages within the next 25 years in almost all countries around the world, also in highly-developed ones such as Germany, France and the United States,” says Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research scientist Leonie Wenz who led the study. ”These near-term damages are a result of our past emissions. We will need more adaptation efforts if we want to avoid at least some of them. And we have to cut down our emissions drastically and immediately – if not, economic losses will become even bigger in the second half of the century, amounting to up to 60% on global average by 2100. This clearly shows that protecting our climate is much cheaper than not doing so, and that is without even considering non-economic impacts such as loss of life or biodiversity." 

Climate News 4.13.24

Seattle

Electric vehicle adoption doubled in January 2023 compared to Jan. 2022, and was 17.2% of all new vehicles registered in Seattle. Nationally, EV adoption is at 7% overall.

King County

ACEE Energy Equity for Renters is supporting efforts in King County for "reducing utility burdens and expanding renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment in frontline communities as part of its Strategic Climate Action Plan. ACEEE technical assistance will support a county-led project to analyze the utility burden on renters in frontline communities to help develop policy recommendations that can improve utility bill affordability while meeting the county’s climate goals."

State

There is a new set of conservative initiatives being circulated for signatures, including an initiative that would prohibit any restrictions on natural gas at the state or local level. In order to qualify it would require 324,516 valid signatures by July 5th, and if qualified, it will appear on the ballot in November, alongside the three other conservative initiatives including I-2117 to repeal the Climate Commitment Act. Getting the signatures in the short time available before the deadline will be challenging, but could be done with sufficient funding for paid signature gatherers.

Puget Sound Energy released a fact sheet on HB 1589, the recently passed bill that is aimed at decarbonizing PSE, and allowing an eventual conversion of its current natural gas and electricity business into an electricity only business. This fact sheet indicates PSE's own understanding of the bill, and also combats misinformation about the effect of HB 1589 on natural gas in Washington. Interestingly, it notes that "Natural gas energy use is declining—down 7% for residential and 3% for commercial customers in 2023 and forecasted to continue to decline over the next five years. Electricity use is increasing and forecasted to continue to rise." PSE filed an Integrated Resource Plan in 2021, and another updated one in 2023. The one from 2021 forecasted a growth in their natural gas business of .8% per year in energy usage, in line with a growing population. The IRP for 2023 forecasts a growth in the natural gas business of only .4%, and notes that this is because in 2023 the IRP took into account the projected effects of climate change in the next 25 years with a corresponding drop in energy usage for heating buildings. This reflects a per-customer projected drop of .3% per year; the projected growth of .4% is from growth in customers, reflecting a growing population in the region. Note that these changes are much smaller than was flagged in the recent fact sheet, and it is not clear what is causing the discrepancy. It could be further changes since the IRP was issued, possibly including more customers switching to heat pumps, and possibly just the difference between one year's temperature change and projected 30-year averages. Electricity usage by contrast is rising, and forecasted to continue rising; once natural gas is no longer part of the mix for electricity sources, the drop in residential natural gas usage may be more apparent in the overall totals.

The Washington Observer (paywall) reports that the No on I-2117 campaign brought in $2.3M in March, for a total of $4.4M. So far, the No campaign is running ahead of the Let's Go Washington campaign, where all three conservative initiative campaigns raised $289K in March.

WSDOT has issued a Preliminary Service Development Plan Draft Alternatives and Recommendations Report (pre-SDP) for the Amtrak Cascades intercity passenger rail program for public comment.  Amtrak Cascades is the passenger rail service between Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, with 14 stops in all. It also extends to Eugene, OR. In the new development plan, WSDOT has dropped its goals of trip time improvement on Amtrak, so it is no longer aiming for 2.5 hour service to Portland, for example, which would make it competitive with driving. WSDOT is taking comment until April 18, and can be reached at cascadesSDP@wsdot.wa.gov.

Climate News 4.7.24

Seattle

SDOT and the Mayor's office released a draft Transportation Levy. This new levy would replace Move Seattle, which expires this year. The levy provides one third of SDOT's spending overall, and almost all of the capital projects. The levy would raise $1.35B, up from $930M in Move Seattle, but below the $1.7B that SDOT polling showed would pass, and that advocates had hoped for; in inflation adjusted terms it represents a 10% increase according to the Urbanist.  In spite of the fact that the overall levy is larger than Move Seattle, the new spending proposal has sharp decreases for both transit (-30%) and sidewalk spending (-23%), while spending on road maintenance is up by about 33%. The draft is available for public comment until April 26. Then it will go to Council for approval before going on the ballot in November. Advocates are asking for transit, walking, and biking to be 50% of the investments in the levy. There are a series of public events during the public comment period when you can talk with SDOT:

• Wednesday, April 10: SODO BIA 2024 Transportation Open House | 11 AM–1 PM

• Saturday, April 13: Columbia City Farmers Market | 10 AM–2 PM

• Sunday, April 14: Capitol Hill Farmers Market | 11 AM–3 PM

• Tuesday, April 16: Northgate Station | 3 PM–6 PM

• Thursday, April 18: Westlake Park | 11 AM–2 PM

• Saturday, April 20: University District Farmers Market | 9 AM–2 PM

• Sunday, April 21: Ballard Farmers Market | 10 AM–2 PM

• Sunday, April 21: West Seattle Farmers Market | 10 AM–2 PM

Seattle's Climate Change Response Framework makes it clear that meeting our climate goals requires increasing transit, walking, and biking as well as electrifying vehicles, and in particular,  transit usage and biking will have to double between now and 2030.

The Office of Sustainability and Environment recently posted several job openings, in spite of the city-wide hiring freeze. The three positions are for a grants advisor, a coordinator for the Building Emissions Performance Standards program, and for the Clean Heat Program. This is a possible sign that the Mayor is not planning to significantly cut these programs in order to cover the budget deficit.

350 Seattle's Green New Deal for Social Housing campaign is helping House Our Neighbors gather signatures for the social housing initiative. They have just months to gather 30,000 signatures, and are looking for folks to help out.

Sound Transit

The Link extension to Lynnwood will open on Aug. 30 this year. It will add four new stations: Shoreline South/148th St., Shoreline North/185th St., Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood City Center. During peak hours, trains will run approximately every eight minutes. Bus service changes related to the opening will start on Sept. 14. 

The East Side Starter line, from Bellevue to Redmond, will start April 27. This will connect 8 stations, from South Bellevue to Redmond Technology Center (aka Microsoft), passing through East Main, Bellevue Downtown, Wilburton, Spring District, BelRed, and Overlake.

State

A State timber sale in East King County has been blocked by a judge after opponents sued in court that the environmental impact statement did not take into account the carbon emissions that would be caused by logging. The forest in question is mature, with trees as old as 110 years, and cutting it would emit an estimated 48,700 metric tons of CO2. The State uses money from sales of the timber on its land to fund education, but this is a practice that is under increasing pressure. This decision could impact many other sales elsewhere in the state.

Climate News 3.28.24

Seattle

The City Council Transportation Committee  met, and the Levy Oversight Board gave a report that was an overview on the Move Seattle Levy, and a look ahead to the next Levy. They recommended a larger levy next time, citing the needs of Safety, Equity, Climate, Accessibility and Affordability in that order. They said that the bridge maintenance needs are both real and large, but that the City must also pay attention to these other needs, hence the need for a larger levy. Council also heard a report on Sidewalk Construction and Maintenance, and Councilmembers seem to be committed to improving sidewalk construction and repair. If we keep constructing sidewalks at the accelerated rate we are doing now, it will still take 400 years to complete the job.

The Equitable Development Pilot Proposal is before the Land Use Committee, and meeting some skepticism from Council members. The proposal aims to build more affordable housing by making it more cost effective to build, as well as allowing more homeownership opportunities for residents who have been shutout as a result of redlining and other inequitable former practices, and allowing aging in place opportunities for current homeowners. It would allow at most 36 buildings, but it has run afoul of tree advocates, who are opposed to the 5 foot setback allowed for these buildings. Perhaps more crucially, some Councilmembers were skeptical that the city should be making special allowances for people who are at 50% or higher of the area median income. 

Climate protesters blocked entrances to Amazon headquarters on Weds morning to protest Amazon's support for a new natural gas pipeline. As reported by the Seattle Times (paywall), "TC Energy’s Gas Transmission Northwest Xpress Project, which won federal approval in October and will expand compressor stations at Athol, Idaho; Starbuck, Washington, and Kent, Ore. The work would pump another 150 million cubic feet of natural gas each day." Inslee has opposed the pipeline, which would add an equivalent amount of pollution to 750,000 additional cars. The protesters, a group called the Troublemakers, point out that although Amazon promised to use 100% clean electricity by 2025 and decarbonize completely by 2030, their emissions now are higher than when Amazon made the pledge in 2019. Further, a report from 2022 suggests that Amazon drastically undercount their emissions.

State

Retirements in State government. Jay Inslee will not run again which gives us a race for Governor, currently with front-runners Attorney-General Bob Ferguson (D) and former Congressional Representative Dave Reichert (R), as well as Sen. Mark Mullet, a conservative Democratic state senator. Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig of Spokane is retiring. Senate Pro Tempore Karen Keiser is retiring. With Mark Mullet running for Governor, his state senate seat in Issaquah is open. Sen. Sam Hunt, the chair of the State Government & Elections Committee, is retiring, which could change the outlook for voting reforms, and Jessica Bateman, who has been very active in housing, will run for his seat. Kevin Van De Wege, chair of the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Committee is running for Lands Commissioner, which leaves his seat open. Frank Chopp, former state Speaker of the House and representative from the 43rd is not running for reelection. Shaun Scott, who ran a strong race on the left in D4 in 2019 has announced that he will run for that spot. House Minority Leader, J.T. Wilcox is also retiring. There are also a number of Senate leaders who don't need to stand for election this year, but are running for other offices. With all of these seats changing, we should expect a lot of change next year.

A new electrification website for Washington debuted. It has lots of useful information for home electrification, including detailed information about rebates, and how to find contractors in your area.  Heat pumps, water heaters, dryers, electric fireplaces, EV chargers, grills, it's all here. Information for renters as well as homeowners available.

Elsewhere

A study has been released on how climate change is contributing to inflation. The study finds that higher temperatures, more intense and frequent heat waves and other factors are already driving up the prices of food and other goods worldwide. Although the effect goes across the entire economy, the study anticipates inflation in food prices globally by 1-3% per year between now and 2035, with the effect stronger in places with a naturally warmer climate. It is unfortunate that inflation is used as a justification for higher interest rates, which in turn decrease investments in clean energy alternatives.

Climate News 3.16.24

Seattle

The draft Comprehensive Plan contains a Climate Element, which is what the City is using to replace the Climate Action Plan. The Climate Element starts on page 137. It affirms the City's 2030 and 2050 goals for overall emission reductions, and for transportation notes: "But Seattle is not yet on track to meet our 2030 emissions reduction goals. More aggressive change is needed across the transportation sector."

Also of note: the City does not expect that the Comprehensive Plan will be passed in 2024, as called for by State law, but believes it will be passed in Q1 of 2025. This was briefed to the City Council by OPCD and the Mayor's office.

The City released a 2023 Progress Report on the One Seattle Transportation and Climate Executive Order from 2022. The report notes the following:

• On low-pollution neighborhoods: The City of Seattle received a $1.2 million grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan for low-pollution neighborhoods that will reduce transportation emissions in our communities. The grant funding will be used to establish a vision for low-pollution neighborhoods, develop a toolkit, identify potential project areas, and define projects and programs for an implementation and funding plan. 

The Executive Order specifically said that the "community conversation" they would hold in 2023 would inform the investments made in the Transportation Levy.

• The City released a Curbside Climate Plan, and a zero-emission freight plan. The progress report says that this will  inform "potential projects in 2024 to encourage e-cargo bike delivery in Seattle."

• The Progress Report says that the City, in consultation with the Utilities and Transportation Commission, Transportation Network Companies (TNC) (e.g. Uber, Lyft) and taxi companies, developed a proposal in that sets a path for TNC and car-share vehicles operating in Seattle to transition to zero-emission by 2030. This proposal has apparently not yet been made public.

• The City released the Climate Change Response Framework, which lays out a plan for reducing emissions by mode shifting and vehicle electrification.

• The City is working on electrifying its own fleet: "There are over nine ongoing pilot programs including street sweepers, forklifts, semi-trucks, and more that the team is being trained on and testing, while also looking to bring permanently into the City’s fleet infrastructure. In addition, SDOT is making investments in charging infrastructure, electrical updates, and department implementation strategies. More will be rolled out in 2024."

Elsewhere

The Rhodium Group reported that US GHG emissions fell in 2023 by 1.9%. This is not much, but it is notable because at the same time the economy as a whole grew by 2.4%. US emissions are now 17.2% below 2005 levels. The report cited a mild winter, as well as decreasing coal for power generation. "If emissions had continued to decline at the same rate as 2011-2019 instead of the pandemic-induced turmoil of 2020-2022, emissions would be about 2% higher today than we’re estimating them to be—suggesting at least a modest acceleration in the pace of decarbonization." The report notes that although this is a step in the right direction, we would have to more than triple the rate of decline, and sustain it for every year from now to 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement goals of 50-52% reduction by 2030.

Climate News 3.11.24

Seattle

The Mayor released the draft Comprehensive Plan. Most commentators seem to agree that the plan tilts towards more townhomes, but this may not be enough to accomodate much additional growth. The Urbanist quotes Julia Reed "The largest city in the state should be maximizing the use of the tools [the Washington State Legislature] is providing them, not doing the minimum.” The Office of Community Development and Planning is doing a series of six open houses around the city to talk to residents, see below for details. For some coverage, see KUOW, the Urbanist, Hacks & Wonks (21:38).  OPCD will present the plan to Council later today @ 2:25 pm.

• Loyal Heights Community Center, March 14 @ 6pm

• Cleveland High School, March 19 @ 6pm

• Nathan Hale High School, March 26 @ 6pm

• Chief Sealth International High School, April  3 @ 6pm

• Garfield Community Center, April 16 @ 6pm

• Eckstein Middle School, April 25 @ 6pm

• City Hall, April 30 @ 6pm

• Virtual, May 2 @ 6pm

State

The Legislative Session is now over. All the bills which were awaiting reconciliation got it. But there is a fair amount of controversy over what happened with HB 1589, the PSE Decarbonization bill, and now there is an action from the Sierra Club: No PSE handout at ratepayers' expense! to ask the Governor to make a selective veto.

The Dept of Commerce just released a study on residential building decarbonization. The Executive Summary is here, the complete report is here. This was a study that some Seattle building decarbonization advocates had argued for and got in the budget in 2021.

Elsewhere

The Legislature just voted to allow networked geo-thermal heating pilots in Washington. In Massachusetts, a pilot project is currently in progress, and expects to go online later this spring. A gas company there is trying out the idea of replacing gas lines in a neighborhood with ground source heat pumps powered by electricity.  The utility will still supply heating, just using electricity.

And, informally, this headline recently caught my eye: UN Climate Chief's Blunt Message: Fewer Loopholes, Way More Cash to Really Halt Climate Change. He was talking about the developed countries passing stronger rules and paying for decarbonization elsewhere, but it applies equally well at home.

Climate News 3.2.24

Seattle

The Mayor released the Seattle Transportation Plan, which will be presented to the Transportation Committee on Tuesday morning. See here for an overview. The new plan comes in two parts. Part One outlines the vision, describes the engagement, and has at the end a long list of possible capital projects. Part Two is a Technical Report that goes over what used to be all the different plans (Bicycle Plan, Transit Plan, etc.) and lays out the criteria for prioritizing the different goals for different contexts.

The Mayor released the Equitable Development Zoning, Part 2, aka Connected Communities (The Urbanist). It is now before the Land Use Committee. The proposal would set up zoning incentives for projects that set aside 30% of units as affordable and partner with community-based organizations. At most 35 projects would be built under this pilot program. Representatives from affordable housing groups and some climate groups were in support, some tree advocates came out in opposition

State

The Legislative Session ends next week. What remains is finalizing the budget bills, and reconciling the bills that passed both chambers but were amended differently in the two houses. One person I heard from said that overall it seemed like a much less ambitious year, partly because of the short session, but also because of uncertainty over upcoming elections, open positions like the Governorship, and some prominent people retiring. So, here's hoping the elections go well because there's a lot riding on it.

Following is a quick summary of bills, for a more complete look see here. 

These bills all passed and are awaiting the Governor's signature:

• SB 5973, Condo owners have a right to install heat pumps

• HB 2156, Solar consumer protections

• HB 1976, Larger incentives for upgrading buildings

• SB 6283, Extend Connecting Communities program for multi-modal paths

These bills have passed both chambers but require reconciliation:

• SB 6058, Link WA's carbon allowances market with California & Quebec

• HB 1368, Electric School Buses

• HB 1589, PSE Decarbonization

• HB 1282, Buy Clean, Buy Fair

• HB 1998, Legalize co-housing (e.g., apodments)

• HB 2131, Networked geothermal heat pumps pilot projects enabled (Avista has a pilot in the works)

And, these bills missed the cutoff and are no longer in consideration:

• SB 6092, Require big businesses to report their GHG emissions

• HB 1433, Home Energy Score

The State Dept of Commerce released a Priority Climate Action Plan. The plan was funded by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for helping states, tribes and metropolitan areas to develop comprehensive climate plans. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency will be doing the work for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area which includes all cities in the four county region. The EPA requires that all PCAPs include a GHG Inventory, quantified GHG reduction measures, a Low Income and Disadvantaged Communities Benefits Analysis, as well as a review of authority to implement each measure. There will be a state-wide Comprehensive Climate Plan that follows in the summer of 2025, and a follow up status report in 2027.

Climate News 2.27.24

Seattle

Mayor Harrell gave the State of the City address (KUOW). In it, he made these points relevant to climate:

• On transportation, he will be focused on fixing potholes, maintaining bridges, addressing climate with more roadway trees and electrification, and building sidewalks.

• On climate, he cited the passage of the Building Emissions Performance Standards and said they would focus this year on reducing household emissions, including accelerating the Clean Heat Program to install more heat pumps in lower income homes.

• On the budget, the Mayor plans to close the $250M budget gap with budget cuts, not new revenue. "While there are some who would suggest the answer lies in new revenue, the fact is that passing a new or expanding tax would not address the fundamental issues needed to close this gap in the long run," Harrell said.

Sound Transit

Sound Transit has ordered 33 double-decker electric buses with inductive wireless recharging for the Stride Bus Rapid Transit that will run from Renton to Lynnwood along I-405. The buses are scheduled for delivery in 2026.

State

The State Legislature has just passed the cutoff date for bills to have passed the fiscal committee in the opposite chamber. All remaining bills must pass through Rules, have a floor vote, and possibly be reconciled. The session ends March 7. Here's the status of some of the climate-related bills:

Passed both chambers, still need reconciliation:

• HB 1998, Legalize co-housing. Allows housing with shared kitchens and optionally also shared bathrooms wherever a 6-plex is allowed. Washington State Standard has more details.

Waiting on a floor vote:

• HB 1589, PSE Decarbonization. Directs Puget Sound Energy and the State Utility Trade Commission to set up a plan for transitioning PSE's gas customers to electricity.

In Rules Committee:

• SB 5931, Salmon-safe tires. Ecology to recommend policies to reduce the impact of the chemical 6PPD from tires on salmon

• HB 6015, Reduce Parking Minimums. Reforms the rules on what counts as a parking space for the purposes of minimum parking requirements.

• HB 1433, Home Energy Score.  Allows local cities to require home sellers to provide efficiency information for the home.

• HB 2131, Geo-network pilots. Allows pilot projects of networked ground source heat pumps for home heating.

• HB 1368, Electric School Buses. Funding for zero-emission school buses.

• HB 1282, Buy Clean Buy Fair. Enables the State to prefer clean materials and fair labor practices on public projects.

• SB 6058, CCA Linkage. Combine Washington's emissions allowance market with California and Quebec.

• SB 6092, Emission reporting requirements for big business. Require big businesses doing business in Washington to report their emissions.

These bills are looking dead now (failed since the previous report):

• Transit Oriented Development

• Rent Stabilization

• Heat Pump Navigator

• Managing Refrigerants in Appliances

• ReWRAP Act

• Reducing GHG from anesthetics & pesticides

• Jaywalking reform

• Clean Schools Program

• Bottle Bills

Elsewhere

Colorado introduced bills that would improve air quality. One would increase penalties for repeated violations. Another would extend the ozone season for two extra months; this would limit activities, such as oil and gas exploration, that would increase ozone. And the Colorado Dept of Transportation would be required to come up with ways to reduce vehicle miles traveled. The bills are meant to improve air quality in the Denver Metro area, south to almost Colorado Springs and north to the Colorado-Wyoming line north of Fort Collins and Greeley.

The Atlantic reported on two studies on the effects of air pollution. In the first report. economists report that the recession of 2007-2009 increased life expectancies in the US. "Out of every 25 Americans age 55, for instance, one appears to have received an extra year of life. On average, across all age groups, the recession reduced the American mortality rate by 2.3 percent." The recession was only 2 years long, but the longer life expectancy lasted 10 years.. If you use standard accounting for the value of the longer life expectancy, it turns out that the recession paid for itself, "What Americans lost in income and purchasing power, they gained in life-years"; the value of the extra time to live was about the same as the reduction in earnings. 

Climate News 2.7.24

Seattle

House Our Neighbors announced that it would run a campaign for a new initiative for social housing. The previous initiative set up the administration of the social housing, this one will be to fund the housing. The initiative would apply a 5% payroll tax on companies who have employees making more than $1M per year, and could raise $50M per year, starting in 2025. This could be enough to pay for 2000 additional units of new social housing over 10 years. House Our Neighbors will have 180 days to gather 26,521 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

The Seattle Transportation Plan and Levy are expected to be released sometime in Feb., and will have 4 weeks of public review, after which it is expected to go to council in April. The Transportation Levy needs to be passed this summer in order to get on the ballot for Nov. The City has planned to meet its decarbonization goals for 2030 mainly by vehicle electrification and mode shift, and one thing to evaluate for the Transportation Levy is whether the planned investments will be enough to get the level of mode shift that we need.

The draft Comprehensive Plan is now many months delayed, but expected in Feb or March.

State

Legislators are holding Town Halls, see here for a schedule. Usually the legislators give a recap of how things are going, sometimes will discuss for things that failed why they failed. It is a great chance to ask questions about climate bills, even just bringing the topic up shows the legislator that people care about it. It can be a simple matter of asking what has been done on climate, or it can be any specific climate concern you have.

The Legislative Session just passed its fiscal cutoff, and the next deadline is Feb 13 for when bills must have passed their House of Origin, or be Necessary To Implement the Budget. Below see the status of some of the big climate bills, here's a link to see many others. Click the tab on the bottom to show Dead Bills.

These bills have passed their Chamber of Origin, and move on to the opposite chamber:

• HB 1589, PSE Decarbonization

• SB 6256, Solar Consumer Protection

• SB 6278, Promoting Organic Agriculture

• SB 5931, Salmon Safe Tires

These bills have been scheduled for a floor vote:

• HB 2131, Allow networked geo-thermal heating

• HB 1391, Heat Pump Navigator

• HB 1433, Home Energy Score

• HB 1368, Electric School Buses

All other bills that are still under consideration are in their chamber's Rules Committee. The Rules Committee in each chamber schedules bills for floor votes.

These bills failed to advance and are no longer under consideration:

• HB 2070, Curb Act 

• SB 6052, Oil Pricing Transparency

• HB 1283, Require ESG Reporting and Options in State Pension Plan

• HJR 4210, Green Amendment

Elsewhere

The Biden Administration  announced that they would postpone making a decision on new LNG export terminals until it can more thoroughly study the effect on the climate and on the American public. This is a major win for the climate, as the new terminals would be a natural gas mega-project and have been described as a "climate bomb". For more info on this, there's a new podcast from Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins with more background information.

A report from UC-Boulder concluded that Biden's climate platform may have been pivotal in winning the 2020 election (paper). "We find that climate change opinion has had a significant and growing effect on voting that favors the Democrats and is large enough to be pivotal to the outcomes of close elections. We project that climate change opinion probably cost Republicans the 2020 presidential election, all else being equal."

Climate News 1.24.23

Seattle

The City Council appointed Tanya Woo to fill Theresa Mosqueda's at large position on the Council.  Tanya Woo will chair the Committee on Sustainability, City Light, and Culture, which is a key committee for those interested in climate. Here's a summary from her on her priorities for Seattle; she doesn't say much about climate directly, but is in favor of increased traffic safety and more public transit service.

King County

The County released a 2023 Biennial update to the Strategic Climate Action Plan. It notes: "The most recent GHG inventory for King County showed that emissions increased to 27.1 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e) by 11 percent compared to 2007. Per-capita GHG emissions have declined over time 7 percent and 23 percent in 2019 and 2020, respectively, compared to the 2007 baseline year. The most substantial drivers for an increase in emissions were population growth, higher GHG emissions from electricity provided by Puget Sound Energy, and increased aviation emissions. Increased efficiency of passenger vehicles (decreased emissions per mile) was the largest contributor to decreasing emissions." The report also has a useful graphic illustrating the need for further local action on climate, and another one that shows how much reductions result from each policy. The grey & black areas represent changes we still need to make, and the light green are reductions we will need from aviation & marine transport.

State

The Legislative Session is in full swing, since it's a short session, time is going by quickly. The first deadline for bills to pass their policy committee in the Chamber of Origin (either House or Senate) is coming up next week, Jan 31. Bills that haven't gotten the approval of their policy committee by then will be "dead" for this year, although they can be reintroduced in the next year. Here's a quick recap of some (but certainly not all!) of the climate-related bills:

• HB 1589 passed the House, and moves on to the Senate. This is the Gas Utility Decarbonization bill that would ensure that Puget Sound Energy plans for the transition to clean energy, makes significant new programs available to help folks transition off of fossil gas, and creates opportunities for low-income customers to access the clean energy transition.

• Two other buildings-related bills are in the House Rules Committee, the last step before a floor vote. They are the Heat Pump Portal, which would provide a website for helping connect homewoners to rebates for electrification and efficiency improvements, and the Home Energy Score, which would inform potential house buyers how efficient potential homes are, and thus also give more of an incentive to current homeowners to make energy efficiency improvements.  Buy Clean and Buy Fair, which addresses embodied carbon in state-funded projects, is also in House Rules. And Sightline's bill to make it possible for utilities to provide ground-source heat pumps (SB 6039) has moved to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

• The ReWRAP Act (HB 2049) and the Bottle Bill have advanced to the fiscal committee. The ReWRAP Act would expand recycling access across the state, reduce recycling confusion by creating one list of what can and can’t be recycled across the state, and improve recycling outcomes by making companies that make decisions about packaging financially responsible for the end of life costs of those materials. The bottle bill would create beverage container recycling program similar to Oregon's.

I-2117, an initiative to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, has been certified for the ballot. The Legislature has the option to adopt the initiative, to let it go to the voters as is, or to submit an alternative that will appear on the ballot together with the initiative. This is one of six initiatives backed by Republicans, the others, not yet certified, would repeal the capital gains tax, roll back the police vehicular pursuit law, give parents a "bill of rights" to review their children's curriculum, let people opt out of long term care insurance, and block state and local governments from enacting income taxes.

Climate News 1.3.24

Seattle

The new City Council had its first meeting on Jan 3 (Crosscut). They elected Sara Nelson as Council President. They will be accepting applications for a replacement for Theresa Mosqueda through Jan 9.  They made the following committee assignments:

• Land Use – Tammy Morales

• Finance, Native Communities and Tribal – Dan Strauss

• Sustainability, City Light and Arts & Culture – Theresa Mosqueda's replacement

• Transportation – Rob Saka

• Parks, Public Utilities and Technology – Joy Hollingsworth

• Governance, Accountability and Economic Development – Sara Nelson

• Libraries, Education and Neighborhoods – Maritza Rivera

• Housing and Human Services – Cathy Moore

• Public Safety – Bob Kettle

Here are some things we can expect over the next year from city government:

January

• Council elects a replacement for Theresa Mosqueda

• OPCD releases the Draft Comprehensive Plan. This is already about 7 months late.

• Council files work plans for what each committee expects to do during the year

June

• OSE begins rule making for the Building Emissions Performance Standards

• Council approves a Transportation Levy proposal to go on the November ballot

November

• Election for city-wide councilmember to for the remainder of the term (just one year), replaces the temporary appointment Council will make now

• Election also for the next Transportation Levy, to replace Move Seattle levy

• Council passes a new two year budget for 2025 and 2026

December

• Council passes a new Comprehensive Plan, including a Climate Element

Sound Transit

Julie Timm, CEO of Sound Transit has resigned, and will be paid one year's severance pay while she is on retainer to provide consultations. It is not clear why she is leaving, but it seems likely that there were differences with the Board, which is mostly made up of elected officials from counties and cities within the Sound Transit service area. Sound Transit will be starting a search for a new CEO. In the meantime, the technical advisory board has voiced concerns that problems they have pointed out remain, and that important management oversight roles, beyond that of CEO, still need to be filled.

State

Northwest Natural, a gas company that serves 2.5 million people in northwest Washington, has been offering builders $2000 to install gas in appliances and hook ups in new homes. This is according to The Guardian: Revealed: US utility firms offer builders cash and trips to fit new homes with gas appliances. The article points out: "The longstanding relationship between gas interests and the building sector could be a major impediment to decarbonizing buildings, which account for roughly one-third of US greenhouse gas emissions."

The State's Legislative Session starts on Jan. 8 and runs through March 7.

Note: if you would like to weigh in on climate legislation during the Legislative Session, a great way is to subscribe to 350 Washington's Civic Action Team, which sends out twice weekly updates on legislation with quick actions you can take to influence the outcome. Another great resource is Climate At the Legislature.

Archived climate news from 2023 >>

Archived climate news from 2022 >>