Hi,

 

I’m with the Department of Health, and we are holding a webinar next week for communities to learn about how DOH has designated “highly impacted communities” under CETA, how to determine if they are in a highly impacted community, and what that means for utilities’ efforts for improving equity and environmental justice in the transition to clean energy generation. We wanted particularly to make sure that 350Wenatchee knew about the event and was invited. Please feel free to share with anyone you might think would be interested. Our statement on the event, along with registration links is pasted below. I hope you can join us.

 

Thanks,

 

Lize Williams

Gender Pronouns: she/her

Communications Consultant

Center for Public Affairs

Washington State Department of Health

elizabet.williams@doh.wa.gov

360-236-3162 | www.doh.wa.gov

 

DOH and the Clean Energy Transformation Act: Find out if your community is “highly impacted” by fossil fuel pollution, climate change and social vulnerability, and learn what that means for your utilities

 

Thursday May 6th at 4pm PDT| Register

 

Climate change is impacting communities across Washington, but that impact is not spread evenly. Some areas are experiencing greater changes and a greater share of fossil fuel impact, and have less capacity to adapt to these burdens. As part of the Clean Energy Transformation Act, the Department of Health (DOH) determined where these “highly impacted communities” are (in addition to tribal lands listed in the legislation).

 

Join the Washington State Department of Health for a webinar training on how we developed the mapping tool that allowed us to determine which communities were unfairly burdened, so that you can understand how your community is impacted and what that means for utilities’ efforts to improve environmental equity.

 

The webinar will be offered Thursday May 6th at 4pm. Click here to register.

 

The designation of “highly impacted communities” is based on the Environmental Health Disparities map available on the Washington Tracking Network’s Information by Location (IBL) tool.

 

This webinar will include:

  • An overview of how community input was gathered to inform creation of the Environmental Health Disparities map
  • A brief history of the collaborative development of the map
  • How to use the map, including how to identify if you are in a highly impacted community and what utility covers your area, and what legislation is using the map
  • How one utility is already implementing equity provisions in CETA

 

You can learn more about the cumulative impact analysis and highly impacted communities ahead of the webinar on DOH’s Clean Energy Transformation Act – Cumulative Impact Analysis page.

 

There will be opportunities to ask questions about the tool during the training, and you may also submit questions ahead of time to elizabet.williams@doh.wa.gov. There will also be an opportunity to provide feedback to DOH about how to improve the Environmental Health Disparities map and our collaboration with communities.

 

We are committed to ensuring access to this training for everyone interested. If you need any accommodations to participate, please contact elizabet.williams@doh.wa.gov at least 72 hours before the meeting to allow us time to put accommodations in place.

 

A recording with closed captioning will be made available in the week following the webinar.

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