Tumwater City Hall

Tumwater talks climate mitigation plan

Posted

TUMWATER — City officials met Tuesday night to talk about Tumwater’s role in the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan, a county-wide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent below the 2015 baseline numbers by 2050.

Tumwater, Olympia, Lacey and Thurston County all participate in the agreement, which calls for strict changes in legislation, as well as the personal responsibility of individuals to continue making decisions that benefit the environment. The Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan is currently in Phase 2, meaning that a sprawling list of communitywide actions are presented for discussion.

“There are a number of actions in there and a number of things that are expected for us to be working on,” said Senior Planner Brad Medrud. “Currently we are in mile six [out of eight] which is getting the mitigation plan in place.”

The council is following a milestone system in which the next step is to implement the changes lined up by the previous stages. Proposals for reducing greenhouse gases include actions like providing property tax breaks to landlords who implement energy conservation measures in their rental housing, or requiring electric appliances in new construction.

The proposals discussed included 71 that city work group officials narrowed down from a gargantuan list of more than 300. The efforts will help curb the alarming spike in greenhouse gas emissions, city officials discussed Tuesday, since the area has seen a particularly large spike in greenhouse gasses in the last five years.

“We’ve been seeing a rise since 2015 that’s outpacing our increase in population,” explained Medrud. “Some of the actions make a heck of a lot more difference than others.”

The emissions are measured and divided up into the different economic sectors, such as transportation and land use, agriculture and forestry, and waste and water. According to city documents, 54 percent of emissions resulted from the buildings and energy sector, which includes structures like houses in residential areas and the energy upkeep of businesses.

“We’re going to have to do things that focus on this sector and also the transportation sector,” said Medrud.

Tumwater City Hall, Tumwater City Council, Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan, Tumwater, senior planner, Brad Medrud, climate change, greenhouse gases

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here