Denial is in the air at Pierce County Council: No talk, no action on climate change

Is preserving the air we breathe a local or a statewide issue? Anyone sporting lungs would be inclined to say both, but the Pierce County Council, in a pair of incongruous votes last week, basically said “neither.”

The council rejected a regional clean-fuel standard proposed by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) and rightly so.

Though the agency made strong arguments for the proposed rule, saying Pierce, King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties could significantly reduce carbon emissions 26-percent by 2030, the carbon deficit and credit trading program could potentially raise the gas tax by as much as 57 cents a gallon, and that’s a move that should come from the state legislature, or better, from voters themselves.

During last week’s council meeting, several people testified that clean air should at least be addressed holistically. “This should be a statewide discussion, not a county by county or a 4-county region,” said Tom Pierson, director of the Tacoma Pierce County Chamber of Commerce.

That’s a reasonable way of looking at it. But when the council considered an amendment to add this to their 2020 legislative priority list, they voted against that, too.

Councilman Marty Campbell was visibly frustrated. And for good reason. By refusing to even lobby state lawmakers to evaluate a clean-fuel standard, the Pierce County Council was essentially burying its head in the sand.

The vote was split down partisan lines. Surprised? Neither were we. But in a state where an estimated 1,100 people die each year from outdoor air pollution, the council shouldn’t be playing politics with the air we breathe.

If the Pierce County Council doesn’t think air toxicity is a priority, we should all be worried.

According to Carrie Nyssen, Senior Director of Advocacy for the American Lung Association in Washington, “The Seattle-Tacoma area faces some of the most difficult air pollution challenges in the United States, ranking among the ten most impacted by short term particle pollution.”

In short, 2019 was not a good year for clean air. Not in our state anyway. The PSCAA proposed the four county clean-fuel standard because they were tired of waiting for the state legislature to come to a consensus, and who can blame them?

But there is some positive news: At the urging of youth climate activists, the Tacoma City Council recently passed a “climate emergency resolution,” the first city in Washington to do so, but what that declaration means in terms of policy is yet to be determined.

The new resolution will fund training for city leaders on climate change science where they’ll learn how to track fossil fuel use throughout the city.

Climate activists might say that most emergencies are met with decisive action, not more training and tracking, but in a region reluctant to pay for clean air, and in a county where council members reject a statewide discussion, maybe training and tracking is the best we can do.