Friends of Clark County and Farmers Support NO on 2117: Help Us Defend Washington State’s Climate Commitment Act
With just two weeks until Election Day and ballots already in your mailbox, there is no doubt that you’ve heard some rumblings about a slate of initiatives that were purchased by a single hedge-fund millionaire from California, Brian Heywood, sponsor of the Let’s Go Washington campaign. One of the most frightening of these is Initiative 2117 to repeal one of Washington’s most hard fought pieces of landmark climate legislation: the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).
What is the Climate Commitment Act?
The CCA is a cap-and-invest program that was signed into law in May of 2021 and per the Washington Department of Commerce’s website: “requires Washington’s largest emitting businesses to purchase allowances equal to their covered greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions…These allowances can then be freely bought or sold on a secondary market among program participants, allowing businesses to identify and implement their most efficient path to lower carbon emissions.”
Revenue generated from allowance auctions is then reinvested into programs that further reduce Washington’s overall carbon footprint and works alongside other critical climate policies (such as SB 1181) in Washington to achieve the State’s commitment to reducing GHG emissions by 95% by 2050.
FOCC is Closely Involved in Work Supported by Critical CCA Funding
When we at FOCC heard about the threat of this repeal, we instantly understood everything that was at stake right here in Clark County if we lose the CCA.
First and foremost, our President and manager of the Salmon Creek Farmers Market, Ann Foster, sits on the Clark County Climate Community Advisory Group (CAG) representing farmers and local agriculture in climate planning. This climate planning was a result of the passage of SB 1181 that added a new element to the Growth Management Act (GMA), which requires most cities and counties in Washington to create a plan for reducing greenhouse gasses and boosting climate resilience.
Supporting and expanding local sustainable food production, which includes ensuring our remaining agricultural land remains untouched by development in the comprehensive planning process that is underway in the county right now, is the most important solution for climate resilience in our communities. Ann ensures that this remains at the forefront in the Climate CAG’s discussions and development of their recommendations, alongside other important climate protections such as retaining existing forestland, which is currently being threatened by mining interests and irresponsible timber sales by the Department of Natural Resources. This crucial climate planning in Clark County is supported with funding from the CCA, which is under threat from Initiative 2117.
FOCC’s Vice President, food distribution expert, and food sovereignty advocate, Diane Dempster, also recognized other crucial climate work that is at stake if Initiative 2117 is successful. Diane is leading our partnership with Fourth Plain Forward and other Clark County community-based organizations (CBO’s) representing underserved populations in developing robust public participation in both the City of Vancouver and Clark County’s Comprehensive Plan Updates. FOCC is playing a supportive and educational role as local experts on land use planning.
This environmental justice work has been made possible by grants awarded by the Washington Department of Commerce which—you guessed it—were funded by the CCA. Several more of these grants were also awarded to other CBOs in Clark County, and grant experts believe this funding is also at stake if the CCA were to be repealed by Initiative 2117.
What do Clark County’s Farmers Think?
Mike Stewart of Sweet Bloom Farm in Battleground and a climate refugee from California, whose story you may have heard if you attended our last forum titled Returning to Local Food Production in the Era of Climate Change, knows the current impacts of climate change on farmers all too well. He experienced them harshly in California, but he’s seeing them here, too.
Mike worked for the Fire Service in California for 22 years, but medically retired in 2018 after developing severe PTSD from fighting increasingly large wildfires there, and eventually had to leave California altogether. He moved to Clark County and discovered the therapeutic effects of farming.
However, since his arrival in 2020, Mike has experienced firsthand the impacts of climate change in our area as well, including extreme heat and erratic temperatures, which have affected his dahlias. “When we get temperature spikes, they actually shut down production…” he explained at our forum. It’s not just the dahlias, though. Mike finds that he has had to reduce his time working outside during scorching temperatures. He’s also had to deal with more pests and different kinds of pests migrating from the south that his plants are not tolerant to, and has had to deal with the lack of cooling infrastructure, incurring costs for his small business and limiting the space he has on his small farm to grow.
These impacts are only going to get worse if we do not address this existential crisis at the urgency and scale necessary, and the CCA, in concert with other critical climate policies, are game-changers that we cannot afford losing. While we had a relatively lucky summer of 2024 here in the Pacific Northwest, the terrifying heat dome of 2021 is still etched in our collective memory. Prior to that, the PNW was thought to be a climate haven—as was Asheville, North Carolina until just a few weeks ago. We do not have time to lose the progress we have made in acting on the climate emergency. We must step up to protect everyone and everything we love in Clark County, and that begins with defeating Initiative 2117 in 2 short weeks.
Farmer-Specific Investments from the CCA
It’s not just that climate action will protect farmers and food from climate impacts, though; the CCA has benefits specifically for farmers, including exemptions for fuels used for agricultural purposes and investments in soil management, dairy digesters, and manure management. Legislators are also already committed to working on other ways to invest in our state’s agricultural community with more durable policies for supporting Washington’s farmers and ranchers, but unfortunately those updates to the CCA are on pause unless and until I-2117 is defeated. You can read more about those policy plans from American Farmland Trust and WA Farmland Trust’s op-ed in the Everett Herald urging farmers to vote no on 2117 here.
We Need Your Help Up Until Election Day
Now, if you’re reading this article, chances are you already have a plan to vote NO on 2117. But, while you may not need convincing, your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues do. FOCC asks that YOU make a commitment from now until Election Day (just two short weeks away!) to do what you can to defend the CCA by encouraging others to vote NO on I-2117. This can include canvassing, phonebanking, putting up a yard sign, passing out literature, writing a letter-to-the-editor of the Reflector or the Columbian, posting on social media, and speaking up wherever else you can. People are more likely to be persuaded by the people they know and trust – like you!
Resources
For campaign signs and literature, email meridian@no2117.com
Check out the No on 2117 Campaign’s volunteer opportunities near you: https://no2117.com/volunteer/
We have just scratched the surface of investments made possible by the CCA that are at risk of repeal. The Clean and Prosperous Institute has created an amazing Risk of Repeal map that you can view here: https://riskofrepeal.cleanprosperousinstitute.org/