El Paso climate action ramping up as global climate crisis worsens

El Paso is preparing to lead the charge across the border region in addressing the growing climate crisis, which scorched vast swaths of the planet this summer and is only expected to worsen in the coming years.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, launched her Climate Crisis+ Advisory Committee, a collective of Borderland community leaders, county representatives, utilities, environmental activists and other stakeholders, two years ago.

The group drafted its complete framework, released earlier this month, after nearly a year meeting with local and national organizations to learn about climate solutions.

"The Biden administration is absolutely committed to making sure communities and Americans have access to funding to address the climate crisis," Escobar said. "At the same time, at a local level, I decided it was important to bring stakeholders together so that we could talk through steps the community needed to begin taking to address the climate crisis. And this was separate from what the federal government was doing — what should we be doing locally to address this catastrophe?"

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The committee's framework, which puts forth a number of plans to address air quality, water resiliency and energy sustainability, was also used as the foundation for Escobar's Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP) Act, which directs the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a grant program for local and tribal governments to develop their own climate action plans.

"This work product is theirs and it provides a roadmap for what the public sector and the private sector should be thinking about as they commit to do something about the climate crisis," Escobar said of the final product. "This is not a federal government or a state or local government issue alone, it will take the private sector and it will take individuals."

"Each and every one of these stakeholders took significant time and energy to be a part of a committee that was going to focus initially on this framework," she added.

In all, more than 40 representatives from civic groups, activist organizations, political offices and businesses make up the committee, including El Paso Chamber CEO Andrea Hutchins, El Paso County Commissioner David Stout, El Paso Electric Sustainability Officer Jessica Christianson, Texas Gas Regional Manager of Community Relations Liz O'Hare and El Paso Zoo Education Curator Rick LoBello, as well as representatives from Sunrise El Paso, Eco El Paso and the Sierra Club.

But for committee member and El Paso Climate and Sustainability Officer Nicole Ferrini, Escobar's committee is only a "very necessary first step" in the fight against climate change on the border.

Ferrini: City 'running at 100 miles-per-hour' on climate action

The task of tackling climate change in the border region, an area uniquely susceptible to the worst aspects of the crisis, is a big task and Ferrini said El Paso will be at the helm.

"We're absolutely running at 100 miles-per-hour at this point," Ferrini said.

First on the list is using the $5 million El Paso voters narrowly approved last year to create and implement a Climate Action Plan as part of the city's Community Progress Bond vote last November.

"We're going to have our first finalized climate action plan for the city by the end of 2025," Ferrini said.

Part of that money will also go toward establishing climate action pilot projects in the city, she noted, in an effort to find out what can be done right away to begin stemming the worst effects of the climate crisis.

Additionally, the city is expecting $1 million from the EPA that will require it to take the lead among border communities.

"That's everything from the village of Vinton to the unincorporated areas of Hudspeth County," Ferrini said.

Beyond that, Ferrini said there is currently a request for proposals out for climate consultants, though details are scarce at this point.

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"We're expecting to award that later this fall," Ferrini said. "Once that happens, and once we actually get the grant from the EPA ... we're going to first convene all of these partners once again and say, 'We understand what the challenges are ... we've got to start identifying action that we can take forward immediately."

And the work doesn't stop at the Texas border — Ferrini noted that the city is also submitting for a $400 million Solar-For-All grant, which could "transform energy use" across West Texas and southern New Mexico.

"The city of El Paso has taken the lead in wrangling the region as a group and really saying, because we have the staff and the capacity, the ability to do this, we actually have a climate department, which is something our sister communities don't have, but we realize we can't do this without them, so we're really leading the work to bring those dollars in broadly," Ferrini said.

And while the debate surrounding climate change continues to be mired in partisan ideologies, Ferrini said the issue is "so much deeper than that."

"Climate action is important because it impacts every single El Pasoan right in their household," she said. "This isn't about how healthy you are or aren't, it's about how many opportunities you have in a 21st century emerging community."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso leading charge on climate action across border region