Sustainability

CETAThe Ellensburg City Council adopted a Strategic Vision for 2023–2028 which is guided by five strategic pillars that include, among others, Energy & Resource Management and Sustainable Infrastructure.

Additionally, Washington state has enacted several laws recently aimed at addressing the climate crisis by reducing carbon emissions by 95% by 2050. Both the City Council’s Strategic Vision and the state legislation impacts the City-owned electric and gas utility, the municipality, and the community at large.

The City of Ellensburg has hired a consultant, McKinstry 1 Essention, LLC, to facilitate the development of a community-wide Sustainability & Energy Plan to guide future utility, transportation, building, solid waste, and municipal operations priorities. With this planning process, our goal is to engage a broad spectrum of the Ellensburg community to assist in shaping the goals and priorities for our future.

Our City team has been working closely with the consultants on data analysis for measuring our municipal and community carbon emissions as the first phase in the planning process. We will be moving into the next phase which involves bringing together a steering committee to advise future planning activities.

April 27 Steering Committee Meeting

May 31 Steering Committee Meeting

City Launches Sustainability Survey

The City of Ellensburg is developing a Sustainability and Energy Plan and has launched a survey to engage the Ellensburg community in shaping goals and priorities for our future.

The City has hired a consultant, McKinstry 1 Essention, LLC, to facilitate the development of the community-wide Sustainability and Energy Plan that will guide future utility, transportation, building, solid waste, and municipal operations priorities. Sustainability presumes that resources should be used wisely, with consideration for our community’s future. This plan will attempt to define mindful actions and investments the City can take to minimize negative impacts on our resources – human, natural, and fiscal.

The project has two objectives: 1. To plan for compliance with Washington State requirements on energy efficiency, clean energy, green buildings, and greenhouse gas emissions; and, 2. To estimate the City’s current greenhouse gas emissions and identify reduction goals, strategies, and actions the City could take to reduce those emissions.

Take the Survey

The survey, available at http://surveys.critical-data.com/Ellensburg(External link), takes about 5 minutes to complete. Responses remain confidential.

The community survey is the first step. Results will be incorporated into a draft Plan which will invite community input.