As Clark County councilors plan for the next 20 years of population growth, they’re also grappling with new requirements to address the causes and effects of climate change.
“We need to be pragmatic,” Councilor Gary Medvigy said at a Wednesday workshop.
Medvigy said he hopes Clark County will serve as a role model for other jurisdictions when it comes to meeting the mandate to address climate change under the state’s Growth Management Act .
A new law passed during the Legislature’s 2023 session requires Clark and other counties to add a climate element to their growth management plans. Clark County is working to update the growth plan, including the addition of the climate chapter, by the end of 2025.
“The bill tells us we need to have a list of goals and policies the county will be able to implement over the next 20 years that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce vehicle miles traveled per capita and prioritize reductions that benefit our most vulnerable community members,” county planner Jenna Kay told the council.
The statewide goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent by 2030 and 70 percent by 2040 compared with 1990, and to become net-zero by 2050.
The goals set by Clark County must be consistent with those state targets. Kay said the county will also need to propose incremental targets for the 20-year growth planning period that can be monitored and tracked. However, that work likely won’t begin until next year.
In December, the county council approved hiring environmental consultants Parametrix to complete a greenhouse gas inventory.
The inventory, a first of its kind for the county, is “an accounting of all the different sources of greenhouse gases released or removed during a specific period … or geographic location,” Beth Miller of Parametrix told the council.
While greenhouse gases primarily come from burning fossil fuels, Miller said other sources include refrigerants, wastewater treatment, landfill waste and land use changes (cutting down trees, for example). Greenhouse gases tracked include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
“The purpose is to provide a baseline so that you understand what’s the situation before you go in and make reductions,” Miller said. “You know what the hotspots are; you can see where the low-hanging fruit is.”
The Clark County inventory was for 2022 emissions and primarily looked at unincorporated areas. It found the largest sources of emissions came from building energy and transportation, followed by agriculture, forestry and land use. Building energy — the energy used for heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation of a building — and transportation each accounted for 36 percent of emissions. Agriculture, forestry and land use accounted for 21 percent. Industrial use was 5 percent and solid waste/wastewater was 2 percent.
According to the report, 2022 greenhouse gas emissions for Clark County, which then had a population of 240,000 in the unincorporated area, totaled 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. One metric ton of C02e is equal to one passenger car driven 2,500 miles, 13 percent of a single home’s energy use for a year, 46 propane cylinders for a home barbecue or 1.2 acres of forest sequestration for one year.
Councilor Glen Yung said after attending a community forum on climate planning, he realized the county is connecting with those already interested in climate issues but is missing out on those less interested or involved.
“We’re making decisions on reductions, and I think that’s very scientifically driven. But when we make the decisions on how to make those reductions, that’s where the impacts come in,” Yung said. “It’s so hard to get people to these meetings and forums and open houses. They’re going to be significantly impacted by the changes, but they’re not necessarily interested in this issue.”
Yung asked staff to look for ways to get more people across the county engaged.
Councilor Sue Marshall, who owns and operates a farm near Ridgefield, said she’s interested in more data about the differences between urban and rural areas and possible strategies related to those differences.
“I’ve always thought rural could be a good part of the solution, in terms of mitigation,” Marshall said.
County officials will have more meetings and workshops on reducing greenhouse gas emissions this fall.
