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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAC_Minutes_2019_11_19 Jefferson County/City of Port Townsend Climate Action Committee Meeting Minutes Wednesday, December 11, 2019, 3:30 - 5:30 PM Jefferson County Public Health - Pacific Room 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA Members Present: Deborah Stinson (Mayor, City of PT), David Wilkinson, John Bender (Jefferson Transit), Cindy Jayne, Laura Tucker (Jefferson County), Cara Loriz, Shelley Jaye, Chris O’Higgins (Jefferson Healthcare), Kate Chadwick, Dave Seabrook, Diane McDade, Kate Dean (BoCC) (4:45) Absent: Sam Jones (Port Townsend Paper Corporation), Eric Toews (Port of PT), Jeff Randall (PUD No. 1) Staff: Judy Surber (City of PT), Laura Tucker (Jefferson County) Guests: Cameron Rowland, Owen Rowe (Council-member elect), Monica Mick-Hager (Council-member elect), Warren Shelly-Rose, John Mauro (City Manager) Scribes: Judy Surber Topic Recommendation/Action Follow Up Items Call to order Chair Cindy Jayne called the meeting to order at 3:32. A quorum was present. Approval of Agenda & Minutes Motion to approve agenda by Deborah Stinson, second by Chris O’Higgins, approved. Motion Deborah Stinson moved to approve October 23, 2019 minutes, David Wilkinson seconded. Motion passed. Laura to finalize minutes and post to County website. Public Comment Warren – Numerous cities and counties around the world have passed a Declaration of Climate Emergency. U.S. seems to be behind. The request has been sent to Gov. Inslee. Warren is grateful for CAC work. He can send info/templates on the Declaration of Climate Emergency. Shelly Jayne noted City of Tacoma declared a Climate Emergency today. John Mauro noted Auckland, NZ recently passed a Declaration of Emergency. John cautioned that action is the key. Declaration is auxiliary. Judy – relay to City Manager, Deb suggested Declaration be placed on Council’s “inbox” for consideration early 2020. Laura - mention Declaration to Kate Dean as possible BOCC agenda item. Old Business Decision Support Tool (Kate Chadwick) –Kate made the final edits per the last CAC meeting. Tool and cover letter are ready to send. Deb suggested it be placed on Council’s “inbox” for adoption early in the year. Laura will mention this to Kate Dean as well for BOCC agenda item. Cindy will send letter and tool out. Cindy Jayne to send the Tool and cover letter to member organizations. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Update & GHG Reduction Goals (Cindy) GHG Inventory Update 2005-2018 - Cindy thanked Local 20/20 volunteers for their help collecting and processing the community wide data. She gave an overview of status. All data is in, they are in the review process. Will bring info to our next meeting. Forest data is a new data point. USDA and USFS are gathering this data. The powerpoint that was referred to in the presentation regarding a rollup of Washington’s Forest Carbon Inventory from a recent Carbon Friendly Forestry conference can be found here. Had to convert tons to metric tons. Transportation increased over 2005. Industrial decrease, primarily due to PT Paper Corporation reductions. Residential and Commercial decrease since switch to PUD and their use of hydro vs. Puget Sound Energy electricity. However, electricity use has gone up. Deb noted NOPCRD applied for NEP grants from Strait ERN for Forestry data – Cindy attended the meeting and noted the grant for planning did get a recommendation for approval and will be forwarded to PSP. However, it was ranked third, and there is likely only funding for top item. There was discussion re: western Washington forests have a greater sequestration potential than Eastern WA. Understanding the life cycle is key. Increasing awareness. Data on livestock, potential for soil sequestration, etc. GHG Reduction Goals – Preliminary results suggest we may be ahead of the interim goal adopted by City and County in the Climate Action Plan. However, IPCC 1.5°C report and Climate Solutions encourage communities to adopt goals for net zero by 2050 (including sequestration). Mayor and John Inventory team to write up final inventory results in a report and provide to CAC ahead of the next CAC meeting, for discussion and approval. noted Climate Solutions is an excellent resource for local governments. Port Angeles recently adopted a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030. Seattle, carbon neutral by 2050. Discussion: CAC could recommend revising our goal today. And/or could leverage the Earth Week activities to gather feedback from community by goal. It was noted, there are different accounting systems: counting sequestration or not; emission reductions based on previous baseline. John mentioned Auckland’s goal linked to the 1.5°C. Given our forests, would carbon neutral mean we don’t have to reduce GHG emissions? Kate C explained forestry is an “additional”, you start with baseline of forestry and look at opportunities for increasing sequestration. Including the data doesn’t dilute the equation. Cindy noted we could have a dual goal of carbon neutral and reducing GHG emissions by a certain percentage. Group noted goals should be aspirational but should be kept reasonable and defensible. Judy noted to modify the goal would require a resolution by BOCC and Council. Cindy requested CAC members send her feedback regarding goals. Kate emphasized importance of developing and implementing a public outreach plan. Focus capacity there rather than interim targets. CAC members encouraged to send comments on Green House Gas reduction goals to Cindy. CAC Outreach Planning (Diane McDade) Diane provided overview of Draft Outreach Plan, goals, steps, roles etc. The outreach plan includes various means of getting the message out (individual organizational messaging, charette, EarthDay event, etc.) Diane volunteered to develop messaging, draft statements. Diane has been meeting with the various member organizations on their messaging. Diane offered to meet with City and County on their messaging. Goal is to have messaging ready by February. March 2020 Charette – A day-long deep dive into the inventory. 100-200 pre-registered participants. All please coordinate with Diane if you need help on messaging. April 25th CAC Inventory roll-out in conjunction with Earth Day 50th Anniversary. There is a group of various non-profits planning a Jefferson County Earth week. Discussion: Kate D’s idea of a Charette - Judy noted, Council will review workplans and staff resources for advisory committees on January 27. It would be good to provide Council estimate of staff time, costs incurred etc. Concerns were raised over timing of charette, is it better to do it after Earth Day? Would a retreat of the CAC be beneficial? Chris would like CAC presentation to Hospital Commission. Kate Dean arrived 4:45. She noted, she envisioned the charette would be after Earth Day. Next Steps: If you have edits/comments on the draft Outreach Plan – send them to Diane. She will incorporate and bring revised draft back to full CAC in February. Do not reply all. All - send comments on Draft Outreach Plan to Diane. Cindy and Diane to work with Judy and Laura to estimate staff time, costs incurred Diane will send out draft CAC messaging. All: If you have edits/comments on the draft Outreach Plan or messaging – send them to Diane. She will incorporate and bring revised draft back to full CAC in February. Do not reply all. Recommendations re Legislative Agendas for 2020 Legislative Agendas for 2020. Chair presented a proposed legislative agenda based on the Climate Solutions recommendations, the CAC recommendations for 2019, and the City of Port Townsend’s 2019 agenda (below). CAC can make a recommendation to Council/BOCC. Is there anything that the group would add? Discussion ensued regarding WA State’s goal including sequestration. It was noted that the recommendation is to update the WA State goal. The proposed goal was the one Climate Solutions is currently recommending. Motion by Chris O’Higgins - CAC recommends the legislative agenda summarized on the 2 slides for all CAC organizations (Exhibit A). Diane seconded. Discussion: Kate Dean noted County does not typically adopt a legislative agenda. Wildfires was the second largest source of emissions in WA last year (Kate Chadwick). Motion passed. Goals (All) Discuss 2019 CAC Goals and Next Steps 1) Document King Tides – achieved 2) Ramp up Outreach – making good progress, see CAC Outreach Plan Update December 11.2019 3) Highlight what’s happening to member organizations – making good progress, see CAC Outreach Plan Update December 11.2019 4) Complete GHG Inventory – close to completion. Plan is to send draft report to CAC ahead of February CAC meeting for discussion then. 5) Complete a Decision Support Tool – ready for distribution Organizational Goals – status and opportunities for collaboration. Deborah noted, starting on periodic update to the Hazard Mitigation Plan next year. Cindy encouraged members to review and strengthen their goals. Cindy and Laura offered to assist. Laura noted Earth Day will be great opportunity to share your goals with the community. Chris to meet with Cindy and Laura on Hospital goals. Cindy asked all members to send progress report on organizational goals to Cindy. Mayor Stinson asked Judy to forward request for staff time for Charette and Earth Day to Council. Cindy will send out final Decision Support Tool and Memo. Chris to meet with Cindy and Laura on Hospital goals. All – send progress report on your organizational goals to Cindy as we wrap up 2019. Judy forward request for staff time for Charette and Earth Day to Council for consideration at their January retreat. Upcoming Organizational Plans & Documents for Climate Review? Mid-January County Critical Areas Ordinance draft. City Parks Plan update early 2020; City and County SMPs next year. County Hazard Mitigation Plan update will be starting. Judy and Cindy to coordinate time to look at City SMP update. Judy and Cindy to coordinate time to look at City SMP update. Public Comment Warren provided link: ClimateMobilzation.org He suggested it be on the agenda for next meeting. Petition for Declaration could be part of Earth Day and asked how to get the City involved. Judy suggested the weekly “Coffee with the City manager”. Kate noted, petition may be separate from CAC. Cindy will coordinate with Kate D. regarding whether this item should be included on the February Agenda. Cindy will coordinate with Kate D. regarding whether Emergency Declaration should be included on the February Agenda. Cameron: Need to get Youth interested in climate movement. Needs to be an emotional appeal. He can brainstorm some ideas. Group offered ideas: EarthDay.org. Parade of the species, flocking with endangered species. Other Updates Carbon Friendly Forestry Conference – Kate Chadwick and Cindy attended. Forestry sector expressed disappointment in failure of cap and trade bills and fact that Governor Inslee’s agenda is silent on the Forestry and land use sector. Policy and finance groups not present. But on the positive side, huge potential for sequestration. City forestry credits (King County), community forestry trending, great opportunity for moving forward. Hillary Franz great speaker. Jefferson Land Trust presented on their Chimacum Ridge project. Judy noted Owen and Blaise updating Quimper Wildlife Corridor (QWC) Management Plan. Deborah asked Kate C to share info –with NODC as they develop plans in 2020. Request to share information with all of CAC. Kate C. to send Forestry information to Deborah. Next Steps and Agenda Planning Elections in February for CAC Chair and Vice Chair – Currently, Cindy and Jeff Randall. Cindy encourages those interested in either position to talk to her. 2020 Meeting Schedule: Fourth Wednesday of the Month, every other month 2/26, 4/22, 6/24, 8/26, 10/28, 12/23 Members indicated a monthly meeting would be desirable. Deborah asked Judy to pass message to Council. City and County will need to evaluate staffing. February Agenda items: Inventory Report. GHG Reduction Goals. Outreach Plan for approval. Messages. Earth Day planning,. Members thanked Mayor Stinson for her service and contribution to advancing climate change agenda. Judy, notify Council, CAC Members would prefer monthly meetings Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m. Exhibit A: Proposed Legislative Agenda 3 items stem from Climate Solutions recommendations for Washington State:  Support for a Clean Fuel Standard  Funding the Transportation System  Updating WA State Emissions Limits (their proposed new goal for WA State is carbon neutral by 2050 including sequestration) 3 items are carried over from the CAC’s 2019 recommendation:  Implement carbon pricing (carbon tax, cap and trade, etc.) to provide a financial incentive to reduce fossil fuel use. (Recommended in IPCC 1.5’C report)  Provide funding for adaptation work at the municipal level  Continue to support and expand funding for aggressive wild fire prevention and response programs