Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
City briefed on Climate Commitment Act implications for municipal gas utility, potential million‑dollar future costs
Summary
City Administrator Chris Searcy told the Uniontown City Council the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) already pulls the municipal gas utility into regulation and that declining no‑cost allowances, carbon price uncertainty and potential linkage with other markets could push annual compliance and program costs substantially higher; staff recommended council consider policy positions and options including alternative compliance pathways and targeted grant funding.
City Administrator Chris Searcy told the Uniontown City Council on March 9 that the state’s Climate Commitment Act — a cap‑and‑invest program enacted in 2021 — now applies to the city’s natural gas utility and will require the utility to obtain carbon allowances equal to its greenhouse‑gas emissions.
Searcy said Uniontown is “just marginally over” the 25,000 metric‑tons CO2e threshold that pulls an entity into the program, with average emissions for 2023–2025 slightly above that limit. He explained Ecology provides some “no‑cost” allowances for covered entities based on a baseline and that those allowances decline each year (about 7% annually), while the share the city must consign to auction increases and will reach 100% by 2030. That combination reduces free coverage over time and increases the utility’s out‑of‑pocket…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
