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City administrator outlines Climate Commitment Act costs and options for municipal gas utility
Summary
City administrator Chris Searcy presented a March 9 workshop on Washington's Climate Commitment Act, explaining why Uniontown's municipal gas utility is currently a covered entity, the mechanics of allowances and auction proceeds, likely bill impacts for legacy and new customers, and policy options including seeking alternative compliance paths or full cost recovery for new development.
City administrator Chris Searcy told the Uniontown City Council on March 9 that Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) has drawn the city’s municipal gas utility into a regulated program and that the city is “just marginally over the threshold” that defines covered entities.
Searcy, who led a workshop rather than a decision session, said the program requires covered entities to obtain carbon allowances equal to their greenhouse‑gas emissions and that the Department of Ecology runs quarterly auctions that set market prices. He said ecology provides “no cost allowances” based on a baseline (2015–2019) but that those allowances decline each year and a growing share must be consigned to auctions, increasing the city’s out‑of‑pocket compliance costs over time.
“The first year was about $250,000…
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