The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) has reintroduced climate-specific language to its draft 2024 Overall Work Program (OWP).
At a special meeting of the agency’s Executive and Finance & Audit committees Friday, NOACA Executive Director and CEO Grace Gallucci presented a section of a new OWP draft relating to the agency’s climate action planning efforts that included the phrases “climate action planning” and “climate pollution reduction program.”
Previous versions of the OWP draft referred to the section as “Climate Action Plan/Program” and “Local Emissions and Weather Resiliency Planning.” The new phrasing captures NOACA’s current climate action planning efforts and aligns with federal language, Gallucci said, which should make the agency and its constituents eligible for federal funding.
“At the federal level, they are not using Climate Action Plan/Program as their title,” she said. “So, we thought it would be appropriate to align ourselves with that [Climate Pollution Reduction Program] title in order to ensure that they understand our seriousness in doing this and in alignment with them, which will make us eligible for $4.6 billion worth of federal funding.”
Lake County Commissioner and NOACA board President John Hamercheck said the change in language highlights NOACA’s ongoing efforts to develop its climate action plan.
“There is a distinction between ‘planning’ and ‘plan,’” he said. “The difference to many is plain. Difference of a work in progress versus a final product. That another way: open and evolving versus closed and complete.”
NOACA hasn’t completed its Climate Action Plan, and should undergo more public engagement efforts before doing so, Gallucci said. For that reason, the climate action plan as mentioned in the OWP should instead be viewed as a “planning effort.”
Additional public engagement should help to ensure board members, stakeholders and residents across the region are represented by the climate action plan once it’s finalized, Gallucci said.
“What was not included in that other version was anything about a regional consensus, and that is critical,” she said. “We cannot adopt a plan without having a regional consensus on that plan. Again, I know that's tough, but we've been here before and we've done it and excelled in it.”
Board members in attendance had different views on climate change and the effectiveness of climate action planning.
Board members representing Cuyahoga County and other urban areas expressed a need for actionable steps to counteract climate change, while representatives of rural areas, like Medina and Lorain counties turned to a Christian, faith-based approach.
Adam Friedrick, alternate board member for Montville Township (Medina County) Trustee Jeff Brandon, said he believes in the biblical approach to environmental stewardship.
“I believe in stewardship of the environment as much or more so than anybody. I don't want pollution and all those different things,” he said. “The other side of that, too, is I don't think we can save the planet. I think we just need to be good stewards of God's environment.”
Environmental planning and projects should be implemented at the county and local level in order to address the effects of climate change in the region, Cuyahoga County Councilman Dale Miller said.
“I also strongly believe in God, but if we humans mess it up and don't save the planet, God isn't going to step up and step in and clean it up,” Miller said. “The universe doesn't work that way. It up to us to do it.”
John Gall, alternate board member for Lorain County Commissioner John Riddell, said he viewed the agency’s climate action planning as an “overreach” that will pressure local governments to adopt their own climate action plans.
“We're basically a transportation group,” Gall said. “Water was the first thing added here to NOACA, and now air, and we're now creating blueprint policies, programs and a plan that could pressure, down the stream, local governments.”
NOACA is responsible for “carrying out transportation and environmental planning” throughout its five-county region, according to the agency’s code of regulations.
Several board members expressed reservations about voting in favor of the new draft, and instead preferring language introduced in previous OWP drafts.
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne said he preferred the language in the February draft, and asked for clarity on what led to the “watered down wording” in the OWP draft presented to the board in March.
“Today, my takeaway -- personal take -- is that we're watering it down again from plan to planning,” he said, “and I'm concerned about that.”
Suggested amendments to the draft OWP recommended the addition of words like “regional,” and “in partnership with local municipalities and communities” to ensure that local governments have a say in planning and implementation.
Ultimately, the executive committee voted 4-1 in favor of the new draft with one abstention. The full NOACA board will vote on this OWP draft in June
Plecnik said he would rather approve the draft than deny it and risk losing access to federal dollars, a mindset supported by Miller, Friedrick and others.
“I would personally prefer an anti-pollution stance,” Plecnik said, “but I'm not going to vote against potentially millions of dollars coming into our community to make sure that Lake Erie is clean and that we breathe cleaner air.”
The draft OWP will not change prior to the June board meeting, Gallucci said.
Members of the board also proposed revisions to NOACA’s public comment process along with clarifications of the Executive Committee’s role in recommendations for the full board.
“We need to make sure we have a tighter process here so that people can trust the integrity of the process,” Elyria Mayor and Finance & Audit Committee Chair Frank Whitfield said. “I hear that across the board.”
