January 17, 2024
Richard Jackson
Director
Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE)
Dear Director Jackson,
As you know, eighteen months ago, Mayor Bowser signed into law the Climate Commitment Act (B24-0267), and the bill became effective on September 21, 2022. The Act requires that the District be carbon neutral by 2045 and that DC government operations achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. To support these goals, the law also stipulates that “the Mayor shall establish a task force to prepare an action plan for carbon neutrality for District government operations” that will include “at a minimum” representatives from eight specified district agencies.
The Sierra Club respectfully asks whether this task force has met so far and if not, that the Department of Energy and the Environment convene this task force in order to carry out the planning and coordination required to ensure that the District is able to meet the requirements of the Climate Commitment Act. The law allows additional entities to serve on the task force, and the Sierra Club requests to join this task force, to be invited to task force meetings, and to be informed of any procedural schedule for the task force and any other task force activities.
According to the DOEE’s greenhouse gas inventory, District government operations accounted for 6.3% of all DC greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. There is no single private end-user in the District with a greater carbon footprint than the DC government. The DC government operates a fleet of several thousand internal combustion engine vehicles that burn gasoline and diesel fuel, and the DC government burns fossil fuels in boilers and furnaces in many District-owned or leased buildings, with over 50 million square feet of total space. DC government operations account for about 4% of all methane gas burned in DC buildings.
Transitioning off these polluting fuels requires careful planning, and this planning has been funded through fiscal year 2026. In FY 2023, the District government has already received $385,000 from Sustainable Energy Trust Funds surcharges specifically for the implementation of the Climate Commitment Act, and further funding is dedicated for FY 2025 and beyond.
DOEE is well positioned to convene the task force that will plan and coordinate the District's transition off fossil fuels, including establishing our EV charging infrastructure and managing the replacement of fossil fuel equipment in buildings. Indeed, an apparent lack of planning to transition off fossil fuels has already resulted in designs for newly constructed government buildings (such as the DC Archives building) that are inconsistent with achievement of the 2040 carbon neutrality goals. When the DC Council passes laws and funds them, District residents expect the DC government to implement such laws. In this regard, we kindly ask you to report how DOEE has spent dollars allocated to emissions modeling and tracking in FY 2023.
The Sierra Club applauds the DC government for its thoughtful action plans, including Clean Energy DC in 2018 and the Clean Energy DC 2.0 draft plan and Carbon Free DC in 2023. As we approach key milestones for achieving carbon neutrality, DC’s actions and plans must get increasingly specific and outcome oriented, including for DC government operations.The Sierra Club looks forward to supporting these efforts by participating in the forthcoming carbon neutrality task force.
Thank you for your efforts toward achieving Mayor Bowser's commitment of carbon neutrality and for showing that the District government will lead by example. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Catharine Ferguson
Executive Committee, Sierra Club DC Chapter
cc: Dan Emerine, DOEE Legislative Director