Conservation, by Tim Manns

At this writing two days before the change in national leadership, it seems clear that positive action on conservation issues from addressing climate change to protecting biodiversity will have to focus on the state and local levels. Contacting our federal elected officials will continue to be important, urging them to hold the line wherever possible, but we will need to focus more attention than ever on what can be accomplished in in our state, counties, and towns. Please note the article elsewhere in this newsletter about protecting Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, an essential breeding ground for many of Skagit’s wintering seabirds and waterfowl. One factor making Izembek Lagoon so important is its huge expanse of eelgrass, the largest eelgrass meadow on the U.S. west coast with Padilla Bay here in Skagit County ranking second.

Consistent with focusing on state-level protection for birds and other wildlife, the Skagit Audubon board voted in January to sign a letter by Conservation Northwest urging Governor Ferguson to increase the scant budget which Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has to address biodiversity. The State Wildlife Action Plan, now in revision, describes the state's species in decline, but implementation funds fall far short of the need. Now is the time to take measures to prevent those species from having to be listed as threatened or endangered and either losing them or incurring much greater expense for recovery.

The Washington State Legislature began its 105-day, budget-writing session on January 13th. As mentioned in immediately previous Skagit Flyer conservation reports and in Conservation Notes on the Skagit Audubon website, Audubon’s work during the session is focusing on the goals of the Environmental Priorities Coalition (EPC) and Audubon’s own short list of additional priorities. Read about Audubon Washington’s list at Audubon Washington’s 2025 Legislative Priorities | Audubon Washington and EPC’s priorities at Environmental Priorities Coalition - Washington Conservation Action. Note that for several EPC priorities the website now has “one-pagers” with more detail.

 Our legislators want to hear from us on these and other issues. There are many ways to be an active citizen spending as much or as little time as you want communicating with the elected people representing us. Here are suggested steps to becoming engaged with the legislative process and supporting Audubon Washington’s conservation priorities:

• Sign up for Audubon Washington’s Action Alerts:  Join Our Action Network | Audubon Washington

• Sign up to receive the weekly Hot List from the Environmental Priorities Coalition which summarizes the progress of bills (Environmental Bills to Watch - Washington Conservation Action)  – or read the weekly Hot Lists on the EPC website. The entries for each bill will direct you to the bill’s text and how to submit comments.

•  Use the recently redesigned Washington Legislative website to understand the legislative process and to learn about and access multiple avenues for communicating with legislators: Welcome to the Washington State Legislature. Note the “Learn and participate” tab near the top of the page. That tab’s drawdown menu has the helpful “How a bill becomes law” and “How to participate in the lawmaking process.”  You’ll see how to comment on a bill on-line and how to indicate your support or opposition to a bill before a committee hearing.

Thank you for engaging in supporting the Audubon mission of protecting wildlife and its essential habitat by being an active citizen.

For information on other conservation issues Skagit Audubon is following, please go to the Conservation Notes on the chapter website at https://www.skagitaudubon.org/conservation-notes-letters.

emperor goose

by Sergius Hannan/Macaulay Library

Conservation, by Tim Manns

As the Washington State Legislature begins its 105-day session on January 13th, Audubon Washington and the 26 other members of the Environmental Priorities Coalition (EPC) will be focusing on four areas:

• Safeguarding vulnerable rules like the Advanced Clean Trucks rule, clean energy policies, and programs supporting energy efficiency in homes and businesses in the face of a federal administration likely to roll back climate policies.

• Ensuring that funds from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act are invested as intended and not diverted to balancing the state budget. In the November election 62% of Washington voters defeated Initiative 2117 and thereby strongly upheld the state’s program to reduce climate pollution and invest in clean air, public health, job creation, and transportation. During this session the Legislature will write the biennial budget.

• Requiring the Department of Ecology to create a website with maps and searchable records of sewage spills. Unlike 10 other states, Washington has no system for informing the public about sewage spills despite the public health hazard they present.

• The fourth priority carrying forward the proposed Recycling Reform Act from previous years. As the Coalition website states, “More than 50% of Washington’s consumer packaging and paper products are landfilled or incinerated, wasting an estimated $104 million in valuable materials… (The proposed act) will require packaging and paper product companies and brands to fund Washington’s recycling system. This will bring consistent and accessible recycling to all state residents. It will reduce packaging and excess waste and create education programs to reduce confusion.”

 In the weeks ahead, the Coalition website will have more details including relevant bill numbers. During the session, the EPC will provide weekly updates on these priorities and other environmental bills. Sign up to receive these on the Coalition website:

Environmental Priorities Coalition - Washington Conservation Action.

As mentioned in the December Skagit Flyer, Audubon Washington also has its own short list of priorities supporting National Audubon goals. You can read about these at Audubon Washington’s 2025 Legislative Priorities | Audubon Washington. Washington’s 25 Audubon chapters give it state-wide reach to address issues in every legislative district. Skagit County alone overlaps three districts: the 10th, 39th, and 40th with a wide range of political perspectives among its elected officials. Sign up for Audubon Washington’s action alerts to add your voice in support of Audubon’s goals: Join Our Action Network | Audubon Washington.

 For information on other conservation issues Skagit Audubon is following, please go to the Conservation Notes on the chapter website at https://www.skagitaudubon.org/conservation-notes-letters.

Conservation, by Tim Manns

Audubon Priorities for the 2025 Washington State Legislative Session

Next year’s regular legislative session in Olympia begins​ Monday, January 13, 2025, and will run 105 days to April 27, longer if necessary. Sessions in odd-numbered years are 105 days versus 60 days in even-numbered years, allowing time for writing the state’s bi-annual budgets (Operating, Capital, and Transportation). Before and during the session, the Legislature’s website (https://leg.wa.gov/)  is the place to read about the complicated legislative process, find the number of your district, the names and committee memberships of your two representatives and state senator, and much else you might like to know.

As a member of the Environmental Priorities Coalition, Audubon Washington works with 26 other coalition members to choose a few bills on which to focus during the legislative session. Watch this website for information about the 2025 priorities, which should appear sometime in December: Environmental Priorities Coalition 2024 priorities, Partnership Agenda - Washington Conservation Action. In recent years Audubon Washington has had a few additional priorities of its own. For a preliminary look, go to Audubon Washington’s 2025 Legislative Priorities | Audubon Washington. With more local chapters (25) than any other conservation group in Washington (Washington Chapter Network | Audubon Washington), spread across the state, Audubon has the power of constituency. Elected officials pay most attention to people living in their own districts. Whether you visit, call, send a letter, or email your legislator, know that they, by and large, do want to hear from you and will be influenced by what you say. When specifics on legislative priorities become available, please be an active citizen on behalf of birds and the environment in our state by contacting your legislators as often as possible.

Climate Commitment Act

As has been well-publicized, the work of many Audubon members and members of hundreds of other groups defeated ballot initiative 2117 and kept the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) intact. In the entire U.S., only California and Washington State have programs such as the CCA, which  established a cap on carbon emissions from the largest emitters by requiring purchase of allowances. Progressively fewer and more expensive allowances create an incentive to devise the best means for each to reduce the greenhouse gases they emit. The CCA caps emissions at 45 percent of the 1990 level by 2030. The limit decreases over time until the state reaches net-zero emissions by 2050, a mandatory goal set by legislation.

That over 62% of voters in the recent election chose to keep the CCA signals other states that this approach has broad public support. Economists see this cap-and-invest system as an effective way to efficiently and quickly reduce carbon emissions. And CCA revenue is funding a wide range of projects and programs to reduce emissions and deal with the effects of climate change across the state. See previous issues of this newsletter and the conservation notes on the Skagit Audubon website for more about the CCA and relevant website links. Thank you to all who worked on this important Audubon Washington priority. The national election outcome suggests that action on climate change at the state and local level will be even more important in the years ahead. 

Updating City and County Comprehensive Plans

At this writing in mid-November, we’re reviewing the drafts of the Environmental Element and the newly required Climate Element for the update of Skagit County’s Comprehensive Plan. See previous issues of the Skagit Flyer and the Conservation Notes on the Skagit Audubon website for background on this issue. The deadline for review comments on these elements of the plan is November 22nd, but there will be additional comment opportunities before the update is completed later in 2025. Our County Commissioners need to hear that we want Skagit County to make a concerted effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare our county for resilience in the face of climate change. The Skagit County Planning and Development Services website on the Comp Plan update has drafts of all the element updates and much more: https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/PlanningAndPermit/2025CPA.htm. Note that Skagit’s towns and cities and adjacent counties are also updating their Comp Plans. Each has public comment opportunities.

For information on other conservation issues Skagit Audubon is following, please go to the Conservation Notes on the chapter website at https://www.skagitaudubon.org/conservation-notes-letters.

Conservation, by Tim Manns

Keep the Carbon Commitment Act: Vote No on Initiative-2117

On October 18th the Seattle Times ran a detailed article on what would result were Initiative 2117 to pass (WA’s carbon market pumps billions of dollars to state projects. What happens if it vanishes? | The Seattle Times). Passage of 2117 would repeal the Climate Commitment Act of 2021.This newsletter’s September issue (Sept24Flyer.pdf (squarespace.com)) gives the background on the initiative whose defeat is a high priority for Audubon Washington. Why? The cap-and-invest program which the act established is the best tool Washington State has to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the causes and effects of climate change. National Audubon research has identified climate change as the number one threat to bird populations. Consequently, advocating for addressing climate change has long been a major, nationwide priority for the organization of which Skagit Audubon is part.

Over 500 organizations, companies, Tribes, and unions are supporting the “No on 2117” campaign. When you read this newsletter, there may still be time to help get out the word. Go to the campaign website (Vote NO on Initiative 2117 | Home (no2117.com)) and click on “Get Involved” at the top of the page if you would like to help.

Some background from last month’s newsletter:

The Department of Ecology’s website states,

“In 2021, the Washington Legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act (CCA), which establishes a comprehensive, market-based program to reduce carbon pollution and achieve the greenhouse gas limits set in state law… The cap-and-invest program sets a limit, or cap, on overall carbon emissions in the state and requires businesses to obtain allowances equal to their covered greenhouse gas emissions. These allowances can be obtained through quarterly auctions hosted by Ecology, or bought and sold on a secondary market (just like stocks and bonds).” (Cap-and-Invest - Washington State Department of Ecology)

 Other legislation has committed Washington to reducing carbon emissions by 95% by 2050. The CCA, with its incentive for the largest carbon emitters to progressively reduce those emissions, is the major tool for achieving the mandated reduction. This market-based program generates revenue that is funding projects across Washington to address the many impacts of climate change and further reduce emissions.

Last year a wealthy California transplant to the Sammamish Valley spent six million dollars paying signature gatherers to collect enough names to bring six initiatives to the legislature. During this year’s session, the legislature passed three of those initiatives but decided not to act on the remaining three. Those three plus another sponsored by the same individual are on the ballot. One initiative deals with the state’s long-term care program, another would repeal the capital gains tax which applies only to about 4,000 of Washington’s wealthiest, and the third, Initiative 2117, would repeal the Climate Commitment Act (Initiative 2117.pdf (wa.gov)). The fourth initiative would block policies now in place to move Washington away from dependence on gas (methane) for home heating and appliances

The idea that the CCA has forced petroleum companies, already reaping record profits, to raise gasoline prices has been the subject of many news reports. Wherever the truth lies, the reality of human-caused climate change urgently requires action even if it means paying a bit more for fossil fuels while they are still in use. And there is no guarantee that repealing the CCA will lower gasoline prices, only that it will slow the transition away from fossil fuels and exacerbate climate change.

CCA-generated revenue funds projects across Washington to address climate change and its effects. For an overview of what repealing the CCA would mean, see https://no2117.com/the-costs-of-i-2117/. For a map of CCA-funded projects: Home – Risk of Repeal (cleanprosperousinstitute.org)  (Projects in Skagit County: Skagit County.pdf - Google Drive).

Updating of City and County Comprehensive Plans

Continuing step by step with the mandated update of Skagit County’s Comprehensive Plan, the Planning & Development Services Department is now accepting comments on the plan’s new Climate Element. Washington House Bill (HB) 1181, passed in 2023, requires that Comprehensive Plans (mandated by the Growth Management Act) address climate change and resilience either as a separate plan element or by integration into existing elements. The plan must include measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide for resilience to the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise and increased flooding. The draft of this new plan element is available for public comment through November 22nd. For information about the Comprehensive Plan revision and the new element, go to:   https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/PlanningAndPermit/2025CPA.htm Scroll down to the October section for a link to the Climate Element and further down for instructions on commenting.

Battery Energy Storage Systems in the Skagit

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are typically facilities using large lithium-ion batteries to store electricity when the power grid has energy in excess of need and then to boost the supply when demand exceeds supply. As electricity comes increasingly from sources such as wind and solar, BESS are needed to provide power when the wind isn’t blowing, or the sun isn’t shining. Two such facilities are currently proposed for Skagit County, one of which has aroused controversy due to its proposed siting on land zoned agricultural adjacent to salmon-bearing Hansen Creek and a residential community. Skagit Audubon’s letter opposing that siting just east of Sedro-Woolley is on the chapter website. The Skagit County Commissioners have issued a 6-month renewable ban on accepting permit applications for new electrical energy generation or storage on land zoned agricultural. BESS facilities are needed for moving beyond fossil fuels, but the siting must be done carefully, just as with commercial-scale solar and wind facilities. Skagit County needs to be proactive by planning for where siting such facilities would be acceptable rather than waiting for developers to file for permits with no advance guidance.

State Wildlife Action Plan Survey

See the Conservation Report in this newsletter’s September issue for information about the State Wildlife Action Plan, its importance, and the revision now underway. Please contribute to this revision by participating in Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s on-line survey, open through November 15, 2024. Go to https://publicinput.com/x4675 and scroll down.

For information on other conservation issues Skagit Audubon is following, please go to the Conservation Notes on the chapter website at https://www.skagitaudubon.org/conservation-notes-letters.

Conservation, by Tim Manns

Stop repeal of the Carbon Commitment Act: Vote No on Initiative-2117
The Conservation Report in the September Skagit Flyer (Sept24Flyer.pdf (squarespace.com)) gives the background of Initiative 2117, which will be on this November’s ballot. This initiative would repeal Washington’s Climate Commitment Act of 2021.

 In Audubon Washington’s late September newsletter Interim Executive Director and Director of Bird Conservation Dr. Trina Bayard writes:

 “This fall, one of our top priorities is to support the campaign to protect the Climate Commitment Act by voting NO on Initiative 2117. I-2117 would overturn the Climate Commitment Act, which supports many of our conservation priorities. I-2117 would strip billions of dollars in investments in climate priorities like air quality, transportation and transit service, fish, habitat, and preventing wildfires. Remember to vote NO on I-2117 and if you’d like to get more involved, join a campaign event near you.”

 Following two brief training sessions in August and September, 30 Skagit County volunteers delivered No on 2117 literature to over a thousand doors in Mount Vernon, Burlington, and Anacortes. At this writing another training session is scheduled for late September which will be followed by doorbelling to talk with voters about the importance of defeating this initiative. Attendance at the training is not mandatory for volunteering, and if you would like to help, contact Tim Manns (conservation@skagitaudubon.org). For other opportunities to volunteer with the NO on 2117 campaign, go to https://no2117.com/volunteer/.

 Updating City and County Comprehensive Plans
As mentioned in the September Skagit Flyer, Washington’s Growth Management Act requires counties, cities, and towns to update their Comprehensive Plans every ten years. These plans describe the community vision for population growth, housing, employment, transportation, capital facilities and utilities, parks, recreation and open space, rural areas, and protection of natural resource lands. Skagit County’s update is due next year. The county is revising elements of the Comp Plan in stages and accepting public comments at each stage.

 At this writing in the third week of September, Skagit County Planning & Development Services (PDS) has released the draft Transportation, Capital Facilities, and Utilities element revisions. You can read these documents on the PDS website (https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/PlanningAndPermit/2025CPA.htm) and comment through October 24th.

The last part of the Comp Plan to be considered will be the Climate Element, newly required by Washington House Bill (HB) 1181 passed last year. This bill amends the Growth Management Act to mandate that Comp Plans include policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing climate resilience. There are two sub-elements: a greenhouse gas emissions reduction sub-element and a resilience sub-element. Please note that on October 1, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Jefferson Elementary School in Mount Vernon, there will be an open house to gather public input on the Climate Element. Skagit County has not been pro-active in addressing climate change and its effects in either the Comp Plan or the Shoreline Master Program, which governs shoreline development. This open house and the comment period present a welcome opportunity to express your and Audubon’s interests in regard to climate change. Years ago, National Audubon research identified climate change as the most significant threat to birds just as it is a profound threat to human well-being (Climate Science | Audubon).

 State Wildlife Action Plan Survey
See last month’s Skagit Flyer Conservation Report for an explanation of the State Wildlife Action Plan, its importance, and the revision now underway. Please participate in Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s on-line survey, open through November 15, 2024. Go to  https://publicinput.com/x4675 and scroll down.

For information on conservation issues Skagit Audubon is following, please go to the Conservation Notes on the chapter website at https://www.skagitaudubon.org/conservation-notes-letters.