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City administrator advises caution on Climate Commitment Act moves while market linkage remains uncertain
Summary
City Administrator Chris Searcy briefed council on potential costs from the Climate Commitment Act for the municipal natural-gas utility, citing recent auction prices (~$65/metric ton), possible customer charges and uncertainty around market linkage; he recommended watching market developments before adopting local policy changes.
City Administrator Chris Searcy told Uniontown’s City Council on May 11 that current evidence does not require immediate local policy action on Climate Commitment Act (CCA) compliance for the municipal natural-gas utility, but urged the council to monitor market linkage and rulemaking closely.
Searcy presented comparative data from California, noting California’s carbon market began earlier and has lower recent auction prices; he cited a recent Washington auction price around $65 per metric ton, compared with under $30 in California. He said those market differences mean compliance costs could be materially higher here if linkage and demand dynamics persist.
Using charted projections, Searcy showed a range of possible customer charges: he said the city’s CCA charge per CCF (roughly per therm) is currently modest for most customers (older service connections incur roughly 6–7¢ while newer connections reflect a higher line), but the charge could rise to about 33¢ per CCF under some scenarios. Searcy emphasized that the cost trajectory is uncertain and that much depends on whether Washington links to California/Quebec markets and on future rulemaking decisions by Ecology.
“There's a lot of things going on that I think we just need to kind of sit back and and observe and and see how these things play out,” Searcy said, summarizing his recommendation to wait for greater clarity before proposing aggressive local measures. He told council that Ecology’s allowance price-containment reserve has been drawn down in the early compliance years and that ongoing rulemaking could shift allowance supply and timing.
Searcy also said the city will hold an executive session to discuss CCA bid-auction strategy under the public‑meeting statute exception for competitive-bid strategy. After a 10-minute executive session on auction strategy the council returned and adjourned for the evening.
The briefing did not prompt immediate policy directives; Searcy said staff would return with options if the market signals change or if Ecology finalizes rule adjustments that materially affect local allowance costs.
