Great timing. Port Angeles passed its Climate Resilience Plan (CRP) in June.
Then came the July 13 PDN story that federal grants will be available for coastal climate change projects from approved infrastructure law.
Recently the U.S. Senate passed an economic package focused on climate and health care (PDN, Aug. 2).
The House of Representatives will now consider this legislation.
Having a CRP should give the city an advantage in applying for grants to help the city become more resilient to present and future climate crisis events.
A potential list of events include drought, sea level rise, storm surge, heat waves, more frequent intense stormwater events and wildfires to name a few; see Climate Change Preparedness Plan For the North Olympic Peninsula, September 2015.
I sure hope the city is preparing to take advantage of the federal funding opportunities.
Unfortunately Clallam County doesn’t have a CRP.
One potential difficulty for the county creating a CRP soon is that one candidate for Department Community Development director, Cherie Kidd, doesn’t believe the county should create a CRP.
She apparently believes a county CRP will lead to more regulations, which she opposes. See answers to questions at a League of Women Voters, DCD candidate forum, July 7.
A CRP purpose is not to create more regulations, but to take advantage of project opportunities that can improve community resilience, given existing regulations.
No CRP could create difficulty for the county in obtaining federal funds for climate crisis resilience.
Robert Vreeland
Port Angeles