Drafter
Clerk 04/18/2019
Title
AN ORDINANCE renewing and extending a six-month moratorium prohibiting the establishment of new or expansion of existing major fossil fuel facilities.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. King County has the authority, under to constitutional police powers, home rule authority, the Shoreline Management Act of 1971, chapter 90.58 RCW, and the Washington state Growth Management Act, including chapter 36.70A RCW ("the GMA"), to establish and renew a moratorium to preclude the acceptance of certain new development applications while the county studies related land use issues.
B. The scientific consensus is that warming of the earth's climate is occurring at an unprecedented rate due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions driven by human activities and population growth according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report.
C. The state of Washington found significant environmental, economic, public safety and public health impacts resulting from climate change on this state, in both chapter 80.80 RCW and Executive Order No. 14-04.
D. The state of Washington and King County are threatened by impacts resulting from climate change, including warming temperatures, sea level rise on coastal communities, diminishing snowpack and water availability, ocean acidification and forest decline.
E. King County and thirty-nine cities adopted as part of the countywide planning policies shared countywide targets in 2014 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fifty percent by 2030 and eighty percent by 2050 against a 2007 baseline.
F. The King County council unanimously adopted the 2015 King County Strategic Climate Action Plan in November 2015 under Motion 14449, including goals, targets and priority actions to meet these shared emission reduction targets.
G. Fossil fuels, including petroleum, coal and natural gas, are a major source of carbon dioxide, heavy metals,...
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