Testimony of Lucas Godshalk
on behalf of
Sierra Club DC Chapter
before the
DC Council Committee of the Whole
Performance Oversight Hearing on
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Monday, March 15, 2021, 3:00 pm
Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter at this performance oversight hearing on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
2020-2021 In Review
We recognize that the coronavirus pandemic affected Metro ridership significantly over the past year. Transit has been and will continue to be a lifeline for essential workers throughout the pandemic, and we thank Metro employees for their hard work in continuing this essential transportation service network throughout our region during the public health emergency. The Sierra Club recognizes these sacrifices are significant, and we encourage WMATA to continue to uphold and enforce a mask mandate for riders and drivers of Metrorail and Metrobus to ensure passenger and employee safety. Restoring and maintaining confidence in Metro should always be a top priority.
Going forward, we are strongly opposed to service cuts such as allowing train headways of over twenty minutes, closing stations, and eliminating bus routes that would permanently damage the reliability of Metro as a transit option for hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians and our visitors each year. With the passage of President Biden's American Recovery Plan last week, we are hopeful that these service cuts can be avoided. WMATA has said the legislation "will allow us to avert the painful service reductions and layoffs that were on the table."
Climate Change and Electrification of Metrobus
Sierra Club recognizes that public transportation is critical to reducing emissions from the transportation sector, which is responsible for almost a quarter of DC’s greenhouse gas emissions. As the sixth-largest transit fleet operator in the country, WMATA already plays a significant role in reducing greenhouse-gas, particulate, and ozone emissions at the regional and national scale, and that role will grow even more in the future.
WMATA’s Sustainability Report as well as its 2025 Energy Action Plan demonstrate that it is taking meaningful steps to improve the sustainability of its operations, from LEED certification of new facilities to reducing and diverting waste to improving energy efficiency. The Sierra Club applauds these efforts and looks forward to reviewing the next iteration of WMATA’s Sustainability Initiative Targets, which we hope will go even further to include net-zero energy buildings.
There is one area, however, where WMATA is moving in the wrong direction on climate change: its bus fleet. Currently, all Metro buses are powered by fossil fuels, mostly diesel, with the exception of one operating battery-electric bus. Additionally, the agency has contracted to purchase roughly 700 new diesel and CNG buses through 2025. This is a step backward for WMATA, DC, and the climate. Major transit agencies across the country – including larger, cold-weather cities like New York and Chicago, and even DC’s own Circulator – have committed to fully electrify their fleets on aggressive timelines and already have electric buses in service.
The Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, Moms Clean Air Force, Earthjustice, and more than 20 other partner organizations have called on WMATA to commit to 100 percent electrification of its transit bus fleet no later than 2045, and to take immediate steps toward achieving that goal. The Sierra Club issued a report showing that bus electrification by WMATA would save the agency hundreds of millions of dollars on lifetime fleet operating costs, reduce annual carbon pollution by more than 58,000 tons by 2030 (and more in later years), and reduce the public health toll that toxic air pollution has on the area’s most vulnerable residents while saving residents millions of dollars annually in avoided healthcare costs.
The District has paved the way for fleet electrification with the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act. The law requires the District to obtain 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2032 and mandates that public buses be 50 percent zero-emission by 2030, and entirely zero-emissions vehicles by 2045. WMATA’s most recent 10-year Metrobus Fleet Management Plan (2017) notes an increase in diesel buses, and makes no mention of zero-emission electric buses. While WMATA did announce in 2020 as part of a zero-emission bus update that it plans to run a two year pilot project with 14 electric buses, we find this plan insufficient. First, this pales in comparison to the number of diesel buses it plans on purchasing during the same period. Moreover, a two year, small scale pilot project falls far short of what is both urgently needed and achievable.
Electric buses are not just the future; they are the present. The Sierra Club believes WMATA has the potential to be a leader in this area, and we call on WMATA to prioritize this work and share more information on electric bus pilots and planning. Electrifying the WMATA bus fleet would substantially reduce carbon emissions while simultaneously reducing total fleet costs. By purchasing new diesel buses that will be in service for more than a decade, WMATA is missing out on the opportunity to save hundreds of millions of dollars, unnecessarily adding to local air pollution, and locking in greenhouse gas emissions that we cannot afford if we hope to avoid the worst effects of climate disruption.
Thank you for allowing the Sierra Club to testify before this committee about the service WMATA provides to this city and the importance of reducing emissions from the transportation sector. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.