Residents, climate groups press Thurston County to add specific climate actions to comprehensive plan

Several residents and climate advocates urged the Thurston County Planning Commission on April 16 to insert clearer, enforceable actions from the county's 2021 Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan into the public hearing draft of Thurston 2045, the county's comprehensive plan update.

Speakers at the meeting said the implementation crosswalk between the two plans currently substitutes vague verbs such as "encourage" and "study" for the TCMP's required or actionable language, which they said erases accountability. Paris McCloskey, "representing the Climate Action Team," said, "42 of the 72, TCMP actions are now partially or fully represented in the climate chapter of the implementation plan, which is a big improvement," and added that many items are still "unclear, vague, or incomplete."

The public comments came during the meeting's public communication portion and were followed by a extended staff-commission work session on the climate crosswalk. Commissioners and staff…