Key activities since the Sustainability Committee’s meeting on July 11, 2022, are listed below.
DCD Planning Staff
- Staff continued work on the ongoing updates to the Climate Action Plan and General Plan. Administrative drafts of both documents, for review by County staff, will be undergoing review over the next 6-8 weeks. The draft Climate Action Plan and the draft General Plan will likely be available for public review later this year.
- The Sustainability Commission has agreed with a request from staff to move the timing of the CAP annual report from December to April. This will align the CAP annual report with reports staff prepares for related documents, including the General plan. It also will allow the annual report to include data for the entire calendar year; when it’s prepared in December, the analysis goes through October.
- The Healthy Lands, Healthy People carbon sequestration feasibility study is moving into analysis phase. Over the summer, the team conducted nine focus groups across the county, several at community gardens, as well as a survey. A video is nearly complete on the benefits of and strategies for sustainable agriculture techniques in rangelands, farms, and urban settings. The full report is on schedule to be complete in late 2022 or early 2023.
- Staff continue to support the Intergovernmental Climate Action Task Force, comprised of County department leaders, authorized in the Climate Emergency Resolution. The Task Force met on August 17, and will report to the Board of Supervisors on September 20. The Green Government Group (G3) Champions, volunteers from County departments, focused on electric vehicle education in June and July. The August meeting of the G3 Champions focused on water conservation.
- Staff are in the process of accepting the $750,000 grant from the Federal government to support planning work for Just Transition. Staff is providing an update on Just Transition at this meeting (see earlier agenda item).
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved Contra Costa County for a technical assistance grant application for support on existing building electrification work.
- An internal working group with Public Works and DCD Planning staff is meeting regularly to study the adoption of low-carbon concrete standards. The working group anticipates reporting back to the Sustainability Committee in early 2023.
- On August 18, sustainability staff hosted the quarterly Sustainability Exchange, a quarterly gathering for local government staff in Contra Costa County working on sustainability issues to network and learn from one another. The topic was Electric Vehicle (EV) deployment. Participants received three presentations: 511 Contra Costa staff on behalf of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority on the EV Readiness Blueprint; City of Richmond staff on the City’s involvement with Charge Up Contra Costa; and Contra Costa County staff on the County’s electric vehicle supply equipment installation progress.
Health Services
- CCHS is working with Practice Green Health, a health sector membership origination affiliated with Health Care Without Harm, to identify strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of the County’s health care facilities.
- CCHS joined other health care organizations in pledging to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, part of the National Academy of Medicine Climate Network and the White House Earth Day 2022 Pledge.
- To date over 250 Portable Air Filters have been requested via the AB 836 Clean Air Grant program, across multiple city and school jurisdictions in Contra Costa County.
- CCHS participated in an exploratory conversation with the California Department of Public Health related to proposed state funding to craft a Regional Climate-Health Action Plan. The Governor has proposed $25 million in one-time funding in the FY 2022-23 budget to support this effort. Another $10 million has been proposed for the State to capture much improved climate-health data via syndromic surveillance.
- CCHS also provided input to the County Health Executives Association of California related to AB 2076, a bill proposed to compliment health data collection related to extreme heat.
- The Building Healthy Communities Program in Public Health applied for a One Bay Area Grant (OBAG 3) to significantly expand the County’s Safe Routes to School Program to promote walking and biking safely as alternatives to driving to school. They also partnered with San Pablo and Public Works on two ATP Cycle 6 applications to provide intensive education and encouragement for safe walking and biking to and from school in certain neighborhoods.
County Library
The Library continues to provide workshops and resources for the community, both in person and online, on a range of sustainability topics.
Public Works
- Public Works is working to launch the Sustainability Fund for investments in County facilities that support Climate Action Plan goals. Staff is planning for the installation of electric vehicle (EV) chargers at various County department buildings to facilitate opportunities to replace internal combustion engine County fleet vehicles with EVs.
- Administrative Bulletins 507 and 508 have been updated to require purchase of Zero Emission Vehicles (battery electric, hydrogen, plug-in hybrid with battery range of at least 30 miles) unless justification based on operational need is approved by the County Administrator’s Office.
- Public Works has identified several programs that can help the County meet the goals of the Distributed Energy Resources plan and broader climate action goals: PG&E’s Demand Response Program and Marin Clean Energy’s Demand Response and Strategic Energy Management programs.
- The County successfully responded to the California Independent System Operator's call for electric load reduction before, during, and after Labor Day weekend. Staff will analyze and report on the impacts of County actions in the coming months; this will inform a more robust Demand Response strategy for summer 2023.
- Staff is working to develop a Battery Storage resiliency project at the West County Detention Facility which involves a 448 kW batter providing back-up power (independent of the electricity grid) to a bank of EV chargers.
- Staff is updating the countywide Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy and will consider recommendations from the Hazardous Materials Commission on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and chemically treated wood.
- Public Works continues implementation of the Vision Zero Action Plan and the Active Transportation Plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors. Public Works has submitted a number of grant applications for projects that meet goals of the County’s Active Transportation and Vision Zero policies.
Ongoing
- Staff participated in professional learning opportunities regarding environmental justice, carbon sequestration, climate resilience, communication and facilitation strategies, race and equity, and related.
- Staff participated in regional activities.
|