Lehigh Valley businesses can help fight climate change
Climate change is often referred to on a global scale because it is literally a threat to the health of our planet, but we’re seeing the threats to the Lehigh Valley every day. Our summers are hotter, we have more extreme weather events and a region with two major rivers and countless streams is now even more vulnerable to flooding.
But we know we have the power to reduce its effects, helping to save people, property, infrastructure and our economy. What we need now is the collective will of this region’s 695,000 people, and another 163,000 neighbors in Carbon and Warren counties, to join in this fight. That’s the idea behind the Lehigh Valley’s first-ever Priority Climate Action Plan for Transportation Decarbonization.
The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission was awarded $1 million by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. Funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the program was created to funnel grants to each state and the 67 largest regions in the nation to develop and implement climate action plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Turns out, the Lehigh Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area is the 69th largest region in the nation, but the LVPC lobbied the EPA to be part of the original pool, and despite initially being outside of the largest regions, we filed a letter to participate in the program. When Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota and Iowa did not file letters to participate we moved into the program.
This plan has been a long time coming, as it stands on the shoulders of past regional works such as our 2014 Climate + Energy Element, Livable Landscapes Plans, WalkRollLV and FutureLV.
Under the program, the climate action plan is designed to focus on reducing pollution in a single sector of emissions.
That will be followed by a more wide-ranging Comprehensive Climate Action Plan that would map out actions directed at all sectors and be delivered in the summer of 2025. All of it would be ramping up this region’s long-term commitment to bringing down carbon emissions and fighting the effects of climate change.
For the priority climate action plan we delivered to EPA in late February, we chose to focus on the transportation sector, because that’s where we can have the most impact. Not only does being in this program give us access to $4.6 billion in competitive Inflation Reduction Act grants, but through our sister organization, the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study, the region also has access to more than $140 million in local transportation money in the coming 25 years to advance the policies laid out in our climate action plans.
The greenhouse gas inventory we did in 2022 showed this region emits nearly 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year – that’s 14.6 metric tons for every Lehigh Valley resident.
The plan calls for reducing emissions by increasing our use of alternative fuel vehicles, increasing transit ridership, implementing Walk/RollLV: Active Transportation Plan, using technology to reduce congestion and creating green infrastructure along our busiest highways.
That last one has long been a personal ambition of mine because it allows us to reimagine the sometimes-massive rights-of-way on highways and interchanges along Routes 22, 33, 378 and 309, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. By planting non-invasive species such as native grasses, wildflowers and trees, we’ll not only have carbon-sequestering green improvements in the areas where the most emissions are being created, but it will give our busiest throughfares a signature look to greet anyone entering the region. Visitors will have the unmistakable sense that they are entering a green region that is also a working one. Honestly this is our identity. Simultaneously industrious and naturally significant. The green part is what, in survey after survey, residents, visitors and businesses tell us is the highest priority for protection. Green equals quality of life for the majority. Our policies and investments must meet the public’s expectation for a green region. This is the heart of the Priority Climate Action Plan and our upcoming request to EPA for around $120 million to green the heck out of Routes 22, 33, 378 and 309. As we approach St. Patrick’s Day, we will work towards requesting these one-time only grant dollars to seed a greener future. Luck or no, we will work towards that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Our projections show that if we meet our goals, we’ll reduce our transportation emissions by nearly 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually by 2030 and 321,000 annually by 2050.
Our success as a region makes all this more challenging because our population and projections show the Lehigh Valley growing by 100,000 people and 74,000 workers by 2050. The PCAP-induced emissions cuts would be more than twice as large, but the plan will be fighting against the headwinds of more people and more vehicles creating more emissions, even as we work to reduce them. Our growth makes this more important than ever.
All of this will require a collective will — by institutions and individuals — to change our habits, but our public engagement process for this plan was encouraging. More than 160 different people attended one of the eight public workshops we held to craft the plan, and many attended every workshop. They came with passion and ideas. Their dedication was inspiring.
The Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have presented us with an incredible chance to be a national leader in fighting the impacts of climate change. If we’re to leave the coming generations with a region as vibrant and beautiful as we get to experience now, it is the responsibility of all of us to take full advantage of this green opportunity to make climate action our mandate.