Whatcom County takes these steps to address local effects of global climate change
Whatcom County Council members approved a Climate Action Plan that spells out the effects of global climate change locally and makes specific recommendations on how to address them.
An appointed committee of members with scientific and environmental backgrounds worked for two years to develop the 202-page Climate Action Plan, a document that starts by discussing climate change and its local impacts — such as the shellfish die-off during last summer’s heatwaves — and then recommends steps that Whatcom County can take to address the effects of climate change.
“Our strategy and actions take advantage of the latest science and available technology,” said Ellyn Murphy, who chaired the Climate Action Committee, said during a County Council meeting Tuesday, Nov. 9.
That committee included topic-based working groups to address the “built environment,” including electricity, buildings and industry transportation, waste disposal and land use; the “natural environment,” including water and fisheries, forestry and ecosystems; and discussed a strategy for turning its recommendations into action.
“It’s a very thorough document and I think it’s going to help as we move forward,” said Councilwoman Carol Frazey.
“I think in the plan, there’s a lot of steps we can take just in our county, and then the state level is going to make changes and then the national level and hopefully the world changes,” Frazey said. “Anything that we can do locally is going to have a big impact.”
Approved with split vote
Council members Tyler Byrd and Ben Elenbaas voted against adopting the Climate Action Plan, which was approved 4-2 with council member Kathy Kershner absent.
“I don’t have an issue with all of it,” Elenbaas said. “This is just one of those all-or-nothing votes. It’s either a yes or a no for the whole report.”
Byrd said he too had some concerns, but he didn’t elaborate.
“There’s a lot in this document that I really like, that I would love to see us champion and tackle,” Byrd said. “But there’s enough stuff in here that I’m not super-excited about that I have some concerns about that I’m really struggling. I want to vote yes, but it’s just not the right document for me.”
Elenbaas, who graduated from Western Washington University’s renowned Huxley College of the Environment, said he isn’t a climate denier.
“I produce things that people need, every day,” said Elenbaas, a cattle farmer who also works at BP Cherry Point Refinery. “It just so happens that you folks here are always attacking the way I feed my family. But I’m only producing the things that you guys ask for. And I’m trying to do it in the most environmentally sustainable way possible.”
Top recommendations
Among the Climate Action Plan’s top recommendations are establishing a county office of climate action, along with a manager and staff — similar to the city of Bellingham’s “climate czar” and its Climate Action Committee.
First-year priorities for Whatcom County listed in the document include:
▪ Advocating for state legislation that encourages more renewable electricity generation, with an emphasis on community solar and addresses the need for transmission and distribution.
▪ Start talks with the two petroleum refineries at Cherry Point about how they can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
▪ Adopt new tools and incentives to speed electrification of buildings, replacing their use of more-polluting natural gas or propane for heating and cooking.
▪ Install more electric-vehicle charging facilities and require charging stations for new commercial and industrial construction.
▪ Incorporate climate change issues into new land-use considerations.
Other steps that could be taken include:
▪ Promote more recycling, ban single-use plastic, expand the green waste program for yard debris and food scraps and encourage recycling of construction waste.
▪ Transition industry to clean fuels and reduce refinery emissions 50% by 2030.
▪ Promote research toward building a hydrogen electrolysis facility to create green hydrogen.
Chris Elder of the Public Works Department, who was also a member of the climate committee, said the county has implemented many of the plan’s recommendations.
“I think by giving it that climate lens allows us the opportunity to kind of enhance or reinvigorate or kind of redirect or empower some actions that we’re already doing,’ he said.
Cost-benefit failed
Councilman Rud Browne suggested an amendment that would require a cost-benefit analysis for each climate initiative that is proposed.
That measure failed 3-3.
Frazey said that each proposal that comes from the Climate Action Plan’s recommendations will require a council vote with supporting documents.
“I think adopting the plan is important and any project that comes before us over $40,000 comes before us and we can approve it or not. We can say that’s not where we want to go with the plan, but having an overall plan is still important.”
Browne, who voted in favor of approving the Climate Action Plan, said Americans must accept the true cost of a global problem.
“Ninety percent of people in the U.S. and around the world want to address climate change. There’s overwhelming support for that. So why don’t we do it?” Browne asked.
Costs, priorities
“Because no one wants to pay for it, and one of the reasons they don’t want to pay for it is because they don’t understand what it’s going to cost and what they’re going to get in return. America, for example, doesn’t want to pay to radically alter its cost of manufacturing or transportation if the benefits are accruing to everybody else,” he said.
“If we don’t start measuring it, and expressing the cost and prioritizing things that cost the least and generate the most response, we’re screwed. As a species we’re screwed,” Browne said.
But Elenbaas said there were more pressing issues facing the county, including homelessness, affordable housing and early childhood education.
“I think Whatcom County spending money on this issue at this time is about as helpful as defunding the police,” Elenbaas said.
“I have a firm belief that local governments are here to do certain things and making climate policy is not something I think we should be delving into because I think it’s pissing money away,” he said. “I did go to Huxley College. I have studied about climate change. I’m not ignorant to the subject. I just don’t look at this as the solution.”
