D.C. City Council to Vote on Clean Energy Bill

At the end of November, the D.C. City Council approved the first reading of the Clean Energy D.C. Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018, a bill that could entirely restructure the city’s energy usage and lead to a reduction in carbon emissions. The second reading is scheduled for December 18 at which point the bill will advance to the Mayor’s office for her signature or veto. The draft of the bill that was voted on would require 100% of the energy used in the District to be from renewable resources by 2032. The bill also includes stricter building requirements for new and old buildings, and it would encourage residents to have cars that are more fuel efficient by adding taxes that correspond with efficiency. Lastly, the bill would increase the amount that residents pay towards the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund, a surcharge added to electric and gas bills (Fenston, dcist).

The bill was first proposed as a carbon tax by council member Mary Cheh, the head of the Committee of Transportation and the Environment. When the bill was brought before the Council it had been changed to a collection of proposals that would reduce the city’s emissions and transition to renewable energy sources. Included in these changes were new amendments sponsored by Pepco, the local electric utility.

Many residents and environmental organizations including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network are concerned about language in the bill that could benefit Pepco. While the senior vice president for government and external affairs at Pepco, Melissa Lavinson, praised the bill for its progressive approach. The version of the bill that made it through the council vote gives Pepco the power to increase rates to offset revenue as more energy efficient programs are implemented and consumers start to use less power (Jamison, The Washington Post).

The city’s current plans to reduce its contribution to climate change and to prepare the city for the effects that we are already experiencing take the form of Sustainable D.C. and Climate Ready D.C. Climate Ready D.C. was created by Mayor Bowser with the intent to increase the resilience of infrastructure and of water, transportation, and energy systems in the District. Sustainable D.C. is an organization that put together a list of proposed achievements to reach by 2032. The most notable goal is to cut our emissions to half of what our levels were in 2006. Last year, in December of 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser added to this goal with a promise to make D.C. both carbon neutral and climate resistant by 2050 (dc.gov).

Washington D.C. is on its way to being a leading example of sustainability for other cities all over the world. After President Trump announced plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, Mayor Bowser was among the local level leaders who pledged their cooperation to the agreement independently. Participation in the Paris Agreement is a commitment to keep the global temperature change from increasing past 1.5 degrees Celsius (dc.gov). According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, failure to significantly reduce emissions could cause an increase of 9 degrees Fahrenheit or more by the end of the century (Jay, et al., Overview).

The National Climate Assessment projects that the Washington, D.C. region will experience dramatic changes in the near future- increased rainfall, higher temperatures, and rising water levels- if emissions continue unabated. Rainfall especially will increase in the fall and spring which will likely cause more flooding in the area (Samenow, The Washington Post). Increased weather intensity and other factors that pose threats to infrastructure would be very detrimental to the District’s economy, which relies heavily on yearly tourists visiting monuments and museums. The Assessment explicitly lists tourism as one of the industries that will suffer because of our changing environment (Jay, et al., Overview).

The National Climate Assessment projects that the Northeast Continental Shelf will experience greater changes than the majority of other marine ecosystems worldwide. Changes in weather patterns and physical processes like ocean acidification would greatly affect the Chesapeake Bay. Warmer waters and atmospheric temperature can disrupt the migration patterns and reproductive cycles of many marine organisms. To cope many species are moving farther north or to deeper waters. An increase in shellfish diseases has also been recorded. New diseases and higher acidity in their environment pose a huge threat to oysters and blue crabs as well as other shellfish. These changes could bring about the collapse of fisheries and decrease the opportunity for recreational use of aquatic ecosystems (Dupigny-Giroux, et al., Northeast).

Coastal regions are also at risk of flooding and storms due to changes in ocean currents that are exacerbated by rising global temperatures. Increased ice melt has changed the temperature and exchange rate of warm and cold currents of the Gulf Stream. Ocean currents play a large role in the formation and direction of tropical storms and hurricanes. Since Katrina in 2005, the U.S. has seen a steep increase in the intensity and unpredictability of hurricanes and Nor’easters along the east coast. Coastal erosion and rising sea levels will put the D.C. area at more risk in the future as the city becomes more coastal. Areas like cities with developed infrastructure are at a higher risk than communities with less developed infrastructure because their adaptive ability is more limited (Dupigny-Giroux, et al., Northeast).

Many events caused by climate change are also a threat to human health. Cities including the district are affected by the Heat Island Effect which accounts for a higher temperature in urban areas due to heat absorption by concrete, and fewer green spaces that would regulate the temperature. Residents use electricity to cope with high temperatures which reduces the capacity of power sources to generate electricity which can then lead to power outages. High temperatures associated with the heat island effect and heat waves caused by climate change, compounded by black-outs make communities vulnerable. Poor and minority communities are especially at risk because they have limited resources to prepare for and respond to the hazardous effects of climate change. There has been an increase in heat related deaths over recent years. Those most vulnerable to heat related illness are children, pregnant women, and elderly community members (Dupigny-Giroux, et al., Northeast).

Pathogens, pests, and disease-carrying insects also increase along with temperature (Jay, et al., Overview). White-tailed deer and nutria are some of the species of pests that are projected to experience population increases in the future. Nutria are an invasive species of large rodent that have been eroding marsh ecosystems which act as a storm buffer to coastal regions (Dupigny-Giroux, et al., Northeast). In the district, the white-tailed deer population in Rock Creek Park has been a contentious issue for years. At present, their unchecked growth has severely damaged the forest ecosystems in Rock Creek which jeopardizes the health and sustainability of the park, a valuable carbon-sink and recreational resource.

Atmospheric pollution and warmer temperatures will likely increase the severity and occurrences of allergic illnesses like hay fever and asthma (Jay, et al., Overview). Wild fires are also a huge contributor to atmospheric contamination. As the occurrence of wild fires increases the amount of pollutants will also increase. Smoke and other toxins from wild fires can travel for hundreds of miles. Effects of the 2015 fires in Canada impacted the air quality in Baltimore, Maryland (Dupigny-Giroux, et al., Northeast).

This bill contains very promising proposals that should be enthusiastically endorsed by the Mayor and members of City Council. The effects of the changing climate are dire and our only option as a society is to take immediate action to mitigate the damage that has already been done. The work that Mayor Bowser has already done in terms of implementing adaptive measures in the District’s infrastructure is very important, but a bill as proactive as this one is long overdue. Between the reading of the first draft and the second reading on December 18, there is the opportunity to make adjustments to the bill. I would strongly encourage the Mayor and the Council to keep the bill’s progressive edge that calls for the transition to renewable energy sources and the plan to make the city carbon-neutral. These measures are imperative in the fight against climate change, we cannot afford to settle for anything less. Additionally, I would encourage those revising the bill not to make exceptions for Pepco. The company needs to do its part in investing in renewable energy and in maintaining accessibility to consumers throughout the city. The structure of this bill has the potential to function as a wake-up-call to realign their goals with environmental conservation in mind. The Clean Energy D.C. Amendment Act is a valuable opportunity to set an example for other cities to follow and to quite literally save the world.

Sources:

Dupigny-Giroux, L.A., et al., 2018: Northeast. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R et al.]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 669–742. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH18. https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/18/

Fenston, Jacob. “D.C. Council Unanimously Votes In Favor Of Ambitious Climate Bill.” www.dcist.com.dcist. November 27, 2018. https://dcist.com/story/18/11/27/d-c-council-unanimously-votes-in-favor-of-ambitious-climate-bill/

Jamison, Peter. “D.C. Council gives preliminary approval to ambitious clean-energy goals.” www.washingtonpost.com.The Washington Post. November 27, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-council-approves-ambitious-new-clean-energy-goals/2018/11/27/8f284830-f266-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html?utm_term=.0756441b9ce1

Jay, A, et.al, 2018: Overview. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R et al.]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 33–71. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH1. https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/1/

“Mayor Bowser Commits to Make Washington, DC Carbon-Neutral and Climate Resilient by 2050.” Department of Energy and Environment. dc.gov. December 4, 2017. https://doee.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-commits-make-washington-dc-carbon-neutral-and-climate-resilient-2050

Samenow, Jason. “The weather of Washington’s future: Hellish heat and high water, says Trump administration climate report.” www.washingtonpost.com.The Washington Post. November 27, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2018/11/27/weather-washingtons-future-hellish-heat-high-water-says-trump-administration-climate-report/?utm_term=.ebc699b84586