White Salmon and Mosier Pass Climate Crisis Resolutions Unanimously
Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network said “The growing awareness of the worldwide climate emergency was evident on the evening of March 3rd.”
On March 3rd, The City Councils of White Salmon and Mosier passed nearly identical Climate Crisis Resolutions unanimously. The resolutions require that the cities target a reduction of municipal greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. The resolutions also call for community education, seek the participation of vulnerable communities and stipulate a number of other objectives. The City of Hood River passed a similar Climate Crisis resolution in 2019.
Mosier Planner Katie Skakel brought the current resolution to council and Mosier’s newest councilor, Greg Valitchka, made the motion to pass it. Mosier Mayor Arlene Burns pointed out that this was actually the second resolution on climate that Mosier has passed. The first one was a part of the North American Climate Summit in 2017. Mosier is a member of the Climate Ready Communities initiative which helps cities build climate resilience.
At the public hearing in White Salmon there was an outpouring of public sentiment in favor of the resolution with oral and written testimony taking up close to an hour.
The work to draft and put forward a Climate Crisis resolution in White Salmon was started by members of Community Upcycle and Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network. These groups worked with the White Salmon Community Development team to consider numerous resolutions from other cities and come up with a resolution that fit for White Salmon.
Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network said in their press release “The questions are now, how will this work progress and which Gorge community will be next to pass a Climate Emergency resolution? April 2021 is Earth Month and will be a time to commit to more climate action on all fronts.”
