Stop Gas Expansion in Ellensburg

Mayor Nancy Lilquist, Ellensburg City Council

Hello Friends,

Recently, the City of Ellensburg rescinded their Municipal Code (EMC 15.260.070B) that required fossil gas services be extended to all new housing developments in the City. They no longer mandate that fossil gas be extended; however, developers may run gas out to new housing tracts if they so desire. The Washington State Climate Commitment Act (CCA) mandates that the Ellensburg Utility Company start reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 7% each year starting in 2023. With the emissions reduction looming, why should more houses be hooked up to gas which will have to be converted sooner or later to electricity? Why not save utility customers the trouble and expense of converting from gas by going all-electric now. This petition, sponsored by Our Environment and Kittitas Audubon, asks that the City Utility plan accordingly for the CCA and make new residential housing all electric. And for current gas customers, the city should make converting to electric appliances easier by providing incentives and/or rebates for switching over.

Please sign our petition today to make Ellensburg more sustainable.

To: Mayor Nancy Lilquist, Ellensburg City Council
From: [Your Name]

In order to lessen methane emissions, which are “more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere”* and a significant driver of climate change, and to meet the requirements of the Climate Commitment Act:

We, the undersigned residents of Kittitas County, support the following requests that Our Environment and Kittitas Audubon Society will submit to the Ellensburg City Council:
1. Stop offering rebates for upgrading fossil gas appliances.
2. Offer incentives to customers for switching gas appliances to electric.
3. Pass an ordinance requiring all-electric appliances in new residential
construction.
4. Stop the extension of fossil gas services to new housing developments and
gas hookups to new residential construction.
* https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane