After four and a half years and $740,000, Irvine still doesn’t have a climate action plan.
Now, there are growing questions over whether or not the city ever will have one, with one of the plan’s biggest proponents acknowledging the current city council isn’t all that interested in it.
During the council’s meeting on Oct. 28, the climate plan was slated for discussion and potential adoption before being pulled off the agenda by Councilmember Kathleen Treseder.
“I’m really frustrated about it,” Treseder said in an interview following the Oct. 28 council meeting.
The council member said she pulled it because there wasn’t enough support to pass it at the time.
“We all voted unanimously to finalize it, and now we have very little support for it from what I can tell,” Treseder said.
But Treseder’s colleagues dispute her assessment, including Mayor Larry Agran, who said that he’s less interested in passing a climate action plan and wants to instead just implement projects at the city council’s discretion.
“I’m happy to look at the plan, look at it publicly, discuss it publicly … I’m eager to see it discussed, in whole or in part,” Agran said in a phone interview. “The plan per se, adopting the plan per se, doesn’t do anything. It’s implementing aspects of the plan that really matter.”
When city leaders first started talking about writing a climate action plan in 2021, the goal was for it to lay out a suite of options the city could take to become carbon neutral by 2040.
“A Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) will guide the City of Irvine on the implementation of measurable actions to meet the target of reducing (greenhouse gas) emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030,” reads a June 2021 staff report from when council members voted to begin developing the climate action plan. “The CAAP will also recommend adaptation measures that build resilience to current and future climate threats, such as drought, extreme heat, and wildfires.”
But it remains unclear which parts of the plan will ever see the light of day.
Irvine’s First Green Project Faces Controversy
One of the city’s biggest and most controversial green energy initiatives was the founding of the Orange County Power Authority, which city leaders have repeatedly changed their minds on, with some calling for the city to stay in while others urge a swift exit.
[Read: Is Orange County’s Struggling Green Power Agency Bouncing Back?]
Agran has been the agency’s biggest critic since it launched and said he still believes the city should pull out, calling it a waste of time and money.
“I regard the Orange County Power Authority as a costly failure with no prospect that I can see of a turnaround that would merit our further investment,” Agran said.
Agran also said he’s “skeptical” of the city’s goal to hit carbon neutrality by 2040, and said he wants to see the city spend more time lobbying state leaders on climate projects.
“Imagine if we had been spending tens of millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of the public for stricter state laws and regulations than we have now,” Agran said.
Councilmember Mike Carroll, one of the city officials who voted to establish the power authority in the first place, has recently been calling out the agency over updated residential rates established as of Oct. 20.
At the two most recent city council meetings, Carroll said the Orange County Power Authority increased rates about 14% without telling Irvine residents.
“I have moved and migrated on my position regarding that Orange County Power Authority,” he said during the Nov. 12 council meeting. “I can tell you that, regardless of my shift in the position, it’s as clear as day that the group of people running that agency over there have engaged in major price gouging.”
Carroll also called the rate increases “predatory.”
“Is the Orange County Power Authority a true competitor to provide lower-cost energy and cleaner energy?” he said during the Oct. 28 meeting. “Or is it the little brother or little sister of SCE? It’s the latter. I am calling you out Orange County Power Authority. Lower these rates immediately.”
Irvine had previously pulled out of the green power agency, a decision that was slated to go into effect by the end of this year.
Before that could happen, Irvine City Council members voted 5-2 to rescind their withdrawal from the power authority — meaning they’ll be staying with the energy provider for now. Carroll and Agran voted against rescinding the withdrawal.
The move was brought forward by Treseder, an environmental advocate who argued that being part of the power authority is crucial for the city to meet its climate goals.
She said the city should stay with the green power agency, stating that the power authority has improved and that the city’s climate action plan relies on Irvine being part of the power authority to meet their greenhouse gas emission reduction target goals.
When Will the Climate Plan Come Back?
When asked about why the city’s climate action plan keeps getting tabled, Councilmember Melinda Liu said she wasn’t sure why it hasn’t been adopted yet.
“The last two times it was agendized, it was postponed, and this time it was withdrawn from Councilmember Treseder,” she said in an Oct. 29 phone interview. “I was not sure why there was no explanation given.”
Councilmember Betty Martinez Franco, the newest member of the council, also said she didn’t know why the item was pulled last minute.
“I don’t believe I could have given fair input on [the plan], since I was only briefed on this item two weeks prior,” she wrote in a text message on Oct. 29. “This plan has been in the works for years, and it will definitely take more time for me, and possibly some of the other Councilmembers, to fully grasp.”
Tomas Castro, an organizer with the Climate Action Campaign, has been following Irvine’s climate action plan since the process began in 2021.
He said it’s disappointing that Irvine leaders still don’t have an adopted climate action plan.
“It’s unfortunate that Irvine’s CAAP has taken so long to be developed and to be voted on,” he said in a phone interview. “There are cities that have begun their CAAP process after Irvine and finished earlier.”
Buena Park created an office of sustainability in 2023 and voted to adopt the city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan earlier this year.
“It’s a sad fact that Irvine can’t muster a vote on this document,” Castro said. “A city of such innovative quality should be a leader on this issue.”
He pointed to the Los Angeles fires earlier this year as an example of why a plan is needed as soon as possible.
“The climate crisis waits for no one,” Castro said. “We need a CAAP now. We need it to protect Irvine families and ensure an affordable future for people in this city. Every year, it becomes more apparent how the lack of a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan is hurting our city.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.