Fifty years ago, scientists first started warning oil company executives about the rise in CO2 and global warming from burning fossil fuels. Over the next several decades, those executives publicly tried to spread doubt about the science, despite growing evidence to the contrary. Oil companies chose profits over humanity and put us back decades in our efforts to address climate change, the most urgent issue of our time.
Thankfully, here in Seattle, we believe in science. And the science is clear: Sacrificing our forests to suburban sprawl, building endless highways and designing our cities around cars has been an environmental disaster. Cars and trucks are by far the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle, endless parking lots and pavement exacerbate heat islands and stormwater runoff, and toxic tire dust is killing our salmon.
Redesigning cities to prioritize people instead of vehicles is easier said than done, as driving has become a necessity for many Seattleites due to earlier missteps in our urban planning. Many also cherish their single-family zoned neighborhoods. I understand why, as I live in one of those neighborhoods, in a 100-year-old home with garden beds, a spacious yard and two vehicles.
But we can’t hold onto the past so tightly that we destroy our future. The negative impacts of climate change are already here, and we know they are not borne equally across our city. Health outcomes are worse for South Seattle residents due to urban heat islands, limited tree canopy and air pollution. Dense housing, walkable neighborhoods, and safe, accessible transit is how we can finally address our affordability crisis and build a more resilient and equitable city.
That hard work is well under way as we update Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan and related zoning. But ironically, an administrative appeals process under the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, is significantly delaying our ability to take the urgent action needed to address both our climate crisis and our housing crisis.
SEPA has historically been used by a small number of businesses and neighborhood activists to protect the status quo and their special interests and slow government down, asking the city or state to do more studies. But our house is on fire, and maintaining the status quo will only make things worse. Here in deep-blue Seattle, where elected leaders are trying to take action to address climate change and our affordability crisis, build a greener and more affordable city, SEPA appeals are resulting in years of delays; time that we don’t have. We don’t need more studies — we need the political courage to act.
That’s why I’m proposing updates to our SEPA procedures to streamline the process and to stop unnecessary and redundant appeals. Tuesday, July 28, Seattle City Council is expected to vote on CB 121215, which would limit the type of SEPA appeals that can be heard by the city’s hearing examiner. I sponsored this legislation because I believe this bill will remove one of the biggest roadblocks preventing us from meaningfully addressing many of the biggest challenges facing our city: housing and homelessness, traffic safety and environmental justice. I look forward to voting on this bill and getting back to the hard work of planning for our city’s future.
