Thank you for your interest in the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan and for signing up for climate mitigation plan updates. We are excited to inform you about progress on Thurston County, Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater’s strategy to reduce local contributions to climate change.

On Monday, November 22, 2021 from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm Thurston Regional Planning Council will host a Climate Action Steering Committee meeting. Click here to access the meeting webinar registration link, agenda, and materials. NOTE: If you have registered for Steering Committee meetings in the past, you will need to re-register for this and future meetings. This change is intended to help us better track public comment for the meetings.

The committee will continue discussing work program and legislative priorities for 2022.

There will be an opportunity for public comment at the start of the meeting – if you wish to provide oral comment during the meeting, please check the box to indicate this when registering. Written comments may be emailed to climate@trpc.org, and must be received by noon on November 19, 2021 to be provided to the Committee prior to the meeting. 

Here are some other news and opportunities for area residents interested in regional climate action.

• The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was tasked by the legislature to develop a public mapping and forecasting tool to support big increases in the use of zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) across Washington (HB 1287). WSDOT is hosting a series of webinars to share ideas about this tool and hear from you about how it could be used to improve the efficiency and equity of building the infrastructure needed for these new vehicles.
• On October 20, Intercity Transit’s Transit Authority extended the Zero-Fare Demonstration Project through 2028, or to three years from when they return to pre-pandemic ridership levels. The extension will allow sufficient time to test the effectiveness of the policy. Maintaining a fareless system for public transit was one of the priority actions assessed for the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan (T4.4). 
• On November 12, Olympia High School celebrated the installation of solar panels through a partnership with Puget Sound Energy (PSE). The project is part of PSE’s new renewable energy program called Community Solar that will generate solar energy at multiple sites located throughout PSE’s service area. The OHS site is one of the first two sites selected for the program, which will include educational opportunities for students. OHS is the fourth OSD facility to have solar panels. Installing solar on more public buildings was one of the priority actions assessed for the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan (B5.3). 

We are excited to keep you informed about this latest phase of climate action planning, and will continue to use this newsletter to provide occasional updates on the region’s work. As always, we welcome your feedback! If you have questions or comments, please reach out to climate@trpc.org.