Futurewise v. Thurston County

Thurston County got sued by Futurewise for failing to include tangible action items to fight climate change when it adopted its comprehensive plan in December. It lost.

Will the county appeal? We hope it chooses to abide by the decision rather than fight it. If you watch the video of the oral arguments starting at 1:02:36, you will see that the county was clearly in the wrong.

For an example, you can read page 24 of the Hearings Board's decision, where it noted that the County's comprehensive plan includes Policy CL-7.A.6: “Protect and restore natural ecosystems that sequester and store carbon, such as forests, wetlands, prairies, and estuaries.” The Hearings Board said this was a specific directive with mandatory language and could be implemented through things such as conservation programs and development regulations.

But the corresponding implementation measure in the comprehensive plan merely said: “Create and strengthen land use policies focused on preserving and restoring native and climate adapted vegetation habitats.” The Board characterized those implementation measures as containing “vague promises” rather than concrete implementation.