Tour of kelp beds, eelgrass meadows illustrates research, underscores climate issues around health of the Salish Sea
Gov. Jay Inslee visited San Juan Island last weekend, where he joined the Friends of the San Juans for a boat tour on Saturday afternoon. During the tour, researchers pointed out kelp beds and eelgrass meadows and discussed monitoring and restoration initiatives that are projects in part funded by the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).
Inslee accompanied Friends of the San Juans staff and University of Washington Marine Labs researchers on the Kittiwake research vessel to talk about the health of the Salish Sea and current scientific studies, and to raise awareness about CCA-funded investments to help safeguard marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
Research in the works
The group visited kelp beds off of Brown and Turn islands on the boat tour, said Tina Whitman, science director of Friends of the San Juans. Bull kelp forests provide critical habitat for a wide range of species and other ecosystem functions, including primary production and cycling of nitrogen and carbon.
Declining kelp beds are being studied by the Samish Tribe, building on research by Friends of the San Juans.
Inslee lives on Bainbridge Island, where kelp has all but disappeared, so viewing the beds was of particular interest to him.
“We also focused on eelgrass on the boat trip, as well as kelp,” Whitman reported. Friends of the San Juans is involved in collaborative eelgrass mapping and a 20-year health assessment project focused on identifying resilient meadows for protection. Data collected this summer will build upon detailed surveys completed last summer in 21 local bays. Both sets of data will be compared to a 2003 survey, providing comprehensive insights into eelgrass changes over the past 20 years.
Last summer’s mapping revealed significant eelgrass declines in 12 bays. These losses are significant because the shorelines in the islands are a critical intersection for various marine species, including forage fish, juvenile chinook salmon and the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales.
Whitman said the CCA is also important for leveraging funds, such as a recent $73.6 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In San Juan County, the Samish Indian Nation will use $499,000 in partnership with Friends of the San Juans to boost community and shoreline resiliency to sea level rise while conserving ecological and cultural priorities and values.
The Washington Department of Ecology announcement of the grant illustrates how funds can be leveraged: “CCA funding also supported Ecology’s efforts to apply for the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge grant in partnership with nine other state agencies, five local governments, four Tribal governments and organizations, two academic institutions, and six nongovernmental entities.”
After the boat trip, Inslee told the Salish Current, “I was glad to see the work happening to study and protect eelgrass and bull kelp habitats, which are so critical for our marine ecosystem here in the Salish Sea. The Climate Commitment Act is funding key research and surveys of kelp forest health being done by the Samish Indian Nation and partners. I want to thank the Friends of the San Juans and UW Friday Harbor Labs for hosting us.”
Capping pollution, investing in communities
The Legislature passed the CCA in 2021, creating a market-based “cap-and-invest” program designed to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
CCA establishes a limit, or cap, on greenhouse gas emissions, requiring that the state’s largest emitters buy allowances to pay for their carbon emissions. The cap is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050, based on levels from 1990. Industries pay for each metric ton of carbon emitted; prices have ranged between $48.50 and $63.03 per ton. The cap gradually decreases over time, making fewer allowances available. As a result, polluters face higher costs and are therefore incentivized to adopt cleaner methods of operation.
With the funds collected by auctioning pollution allowances, $2.2 billion was generated during the act’s first year alone, used to assist communities all over Washington. The State uses revenue collected for job creation, investments in clean buildings and transportation, and enhancements in community resilience against climate change — helping to transition away from using fossil fuels.
The CCA specifies that 35% of funds raised are designated for projects that benefit overburdened communities, with a minimum of 10% going to projects with tribal support. Overburdened communities are historically subject to health, social and environmental inequities, and are the communities most impacted by air pollution.
In San Juan County
According to the governor’s office, CCA investments in San Juan County have reached approximately $3.7 million. These funds include grants provided to San Juan County and the Town of Friday Harbor for climate planning, to the Conservation District for wildfire resilience initiatives, to the Port of Friday Harbor for electric-vehicle charging stations, and to community facilities including the Orcas Center in Eastsound, the food bank in Friday Harbor and the Mullis Community Senior Center for the installation of solar arrays and batteries.
Also included is nearly $1 million allocated for salmon recovery projects including kelp conservation, tideland and riparian restoration, and to the Department of Natural Resources for 184 acres on Blakely Island that was reclassified from trust land status, which is typically subject to logging, to conservation status.
Not directly allocated to San Juan County, one of the largest CCA investments that will directly impact island life is the production of five new hybrid-electric ferries. Bids went out nationwide in May, representing a major step forward for electrification of the fleet.
Initiative to repeal
However, bids are not due until January 2025 — after the November election in which voters will be asked to decide on statewide initiative I-2117, intended to repeal the landmark climate legislation that established the cap-and-invest program. Investments coming from the CCA are just beginning to be felt in communities across Washington.
Without funds from the CCA, Inslee said, the new ferries cannot move forward as planned. The impact of the initiative passing would eliminate $2 billion in transportation funding.
I-2117 is one of four citizen-led initiatives promoted by Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood and Washington Republican state party chair Jim Walsh. Heywood reportedly spent more than $6 million on a paid signature-gathering campaign, and almost single-handedly bankrolled six initiatives intended for the November ballot.
Before leaving Friday Harbor on the ferry back to Anacortes, Inslee met with a group of San Juan County Democrats, mainly to say thank-you for their support as he completes the remaining months of his third term in the governor’s seat. He told the group that “looked at as a bellwether, the Washington primary election bodes well.”
He asked for help in defeating all four of the ballot Initiatives. Regarding I-2117 he said “they forgot to guarantee that gas prices will go down; there is nothing in the initiative about that. The only thing it would guarantee is more pollution.”
Of special interest to islanders: plans currently underway for the five new ferries would be dashed if the initiative passes.
Funds for a new ferry to Guemes Island in Skagit County are also at risk.
Inslee met with county and town leaders to discuss the ferries while he was on San Juan Island, and was interviewed on Friday Harbor’s CNL2 TV, primarily about ferry service. Asked about solutions regarding ferries, Inslee praised the plan in motion to purchase hybrid-electric ferries, adding “the reason we can get more boats is because of the Climate Commitment Act.”
Regarding the impact of I-2117 passing, Inslee said, “Unfortunately 2117 is a direct shot to the heart of the ferry service. We have to have additional boats, and if 2117 passes we are going to see a degradation in the ferry system. That’s the way we are financing these boats.”
There is a bigger, longer-term issue, Inslee said, recalling the boat tour and “talking with researchers about the damage to the bull kelp and eelgrass that we are losing, in part because of rising water temperatures, because of climate change.
“We are breathing forest-fire smoke, and our forests are burning down,” he continued. “I-2117 would take away money to help homeowners protect their homes from fire. It would take away research dollars that we are spending here on San Juan Island, it would take away money for electric school buses and electric ferries,” he said. “It would take away so much — it would really be a shame. I’m hopeful we can continue progress in the state of Washington.”
— By Nancy DeVaux