Northwest Land Matters - Developments in Real Estate, Land Use, Environmental & Water Law in the Pacific NW

Six opportunities totaling over $16.25 million in federal financial assistance were released this week, soliciting proposals in the major program areas of:

• Agriculture
• Alternative and Renewable Energy
• Energy Efficiency
• Public Lands and Natural Resources
• Water

Van Ness Feldman's Federal Funding Resource Center is an online information tool designed to inform our clients and friends about key energy-, environment-, and resource-related federal funding opportunities across a range of federal agencies including the Departments of Energy, Defense, Agriculture, and the Interior. It compiles active federal funding opportunity announcements in one place for ease of review, and includes a Primer on the federal funding process.  Please feel free to let us know how we can improve this service.

Van Ness Feldman has helped clients secure nearly $3 billion in federal funding for projects in recent years.  The firm’s lawyers and policy professionals are experienced in every step of the funding process, including developing and implementing strategies for securing funding from both Congress and federal agencies, assisting with funding applications, negotiating funding agreements, and managing ongoing reporting and compliance requirements.   

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages approximately 264 million acres of Federal lands around the country, has issued two draft documents in support of BLM’s recent push to expedite permitting of utility-scale solar power projects in six Southwestern states. 

One of the documents is a set of standard design criteria for solar projects, which BLM expects to incorporate into a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the solar initiative.  The design criteria, which would apply to all future solar projects covered by the programmatic EIS, address a number of project elements including siting, construction, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning. 

Along with these design criteria, BLM issued a draft framework for a plan to monitor the ongoing environmental impacts of solar projects and adjust land management practices accordingly.  Among other things, the framework provides for the BLM to pilot-test solar project monitoring and adaptive management techniques in one or more BLM-designated “Solar Energy Zones” (SEZs). 

We are pleased to announce the launch of our Federal Funding Resource Center – www.vnf.com/funding – an online information tool designed to inform our clients and friends about key energy-, environment-, and resource-related federal funding opportunities across a range of federal agencies including the Departments of Energy, Defense, Agriculture, and the Interior. The Federal Funding Resource Center, which is updated daily, compiles active federal funding opportunity announcements in one place for ease of review. The Federal Funding Resource Center also includes a Primer on the federal funding process.

In addition, our Government Relations team will send weekly funding updates via email every Tuesday to those who are interested in receiving them. To subscribe to our weekly funding email update, please e-mail vnf@vnf.com.

We hope you find the Federal Funding Resource Center useful and we welcome your suggestions for how it could be enhanced. Van Ness Feldman has helped clients secure nearly $3 billion in federal funding for projects in recent years. The firm’s lawyers and policy professionals are experienced in every step of the funding process, including developing and implementing strategies for securing funding from both Congress and federal agencies, assisting with funding applications, negotiating funding agreements and managing ongoing reporting and compliance requirements. For more information on the firm’s capabilities in this area, please contact Shannon Angielski or any other member of the firm’s Federal Funding Practice at 202.298.1800.

The measure makes electricity produced from older biomass facilities, such as pulp mills, eligible for the state’s renewable energy mandate. 

Passed in 2006, I-937 requires nearly a third of the state’s utilities, those with at least 25,000 customers, to build toward getting 15 percent of their power from wind, solar, geothermal and certain woody biomass by 2020.

Supporters say Gregoire's measure will benefit rural communities and a struggling timber industry.

zHome, the nation’s first zero-impact, affordable, multi-family community, located in the City of Issaquah, had its grand opening on September 14^th.  

An international public/private collaborative of the City of Issaquah, Howland Homes, Ichijo USA, Built Green, King County, Port Blakely Communities, Puget Sound Energy, and the WSU Energy Program teamed on the project which in addition to the community itself, will feature on- and off-site education including a sustainability center for long-term education about the project and deep green living and building.

The concept for zHome originated many years ago in the conference rooms at GordonDerr.  Former GD land use planner Brad Liljequist, currently Project Manager for zHome, had a revolutionary vision—the idea that deep green building and living could be accessible to the mainstream housing market.  Today, zHome proves that the construction of up-to-date; eco-friendly construction technologies are feasible and possible for typical housing projects.

zHome is now open Saturdays from 10-5 and Sundays 11-5 from September 17 until October 30th.  Tours include expert guides explaining the future of building and how we can deal with climate change, ocean acidification, and deforestation.   You can either walk through on your own or take a tour, which will leave every thirty minutes starting at the top and bottom of the hour.

zHome is located on High Street in Issaquah Highlands, just east of the intersection with Highlands Drive. Take exit 18 on I-90, head north on Highlands Drive, and look for the homes with the solar panels! Lots of free parking is available on adjacent side streets around the project.

The 2011 legislature passed ESHB 1478 (Laws of 2011, Ch. 353), effective July 22, 2011, which delays a variety of requirements that apply to cities, counties, and the state.  One requirement of interest that is related to electric vehicles is a 3 year delay in the requirement for publicly owned vessels, vehicles, and construction equipment to transition to electricity or biofuel, to the extent determined practicable. Commerce has until June 1, 2015 to define what is practicable; however, Commerce is considering strategies to implement these requirements as part of the State Energy Strategy (SES) update currently underway. 

The Washington State Department of Commerce and WSDOT are teaming up to implement the nation’s first “electric highway,” a basic network of public access electric vehicle (EV) recharging locations along Interstate 5. Once implemented, Washington will have the first border to border highway to offer fast charge technology. The project supports the West Coast Green Highway ,  an initiative to promote the use of cleaner fuels along I-5 from British Columbia to Baja California.

In addition, Washington is creating the nation’s first electric vehicle-friendly scenic byway along U.S. 2, a 120-mile route from Seattle to Wenatchee.  Eco-tourism opportunities will be promoted at several tourist destinations including Stevens Pass Ski Area ; Leavenworth’s Sleeping Lady Resort and Icicle Ridge Winery where drivers will be able to “fuel up” while enjoying the location’s activities.

This month the Center for Clean Air Policy released a study Growing Wealthier: Smart Growth, Climate Change and Prosperity which argues that “smart growth” can lead to economic gains by the private sector, governments, and local citizens . “Smart growth” describes development that reduces suburban sprawl, makes efficient use of public utilities, and fosters mixed-use and dense development patterns.  Advocates aim to create communities where it is possible to walk or use alternative forms of transportation to meet daily needs.

Chuck Kooshian, principal author of the CCAP study, recently discussed these findings  citing that smart growth-related developments, such as light rail stations, compact residential developments, and mixed residential and retail developments, have led to localized increases in property values, compared to other areas of the same city where these investments were not made.  Beyond property value increases, Growing Wealthier also points to savings felt in smart growth by way of fuel costs and infrastructure costs, as well as increases in retail sales and tax revenues and induced private investment.  Each of these economic benefits were shown to result from land use planning that discouraged sprawl, and created walkable, well-connected, and mixed use urban environments.

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Jessica Green of Brightworks also contributed to this post.

The State of Washington and the City of Seattle are passing new laws and ordinances to increase energy efficiency.  In particular, the Washington State Building Code Council adopted changes to the Washington State Energy Code to require building owners to achieve additional energy efficiency.  Public hearings to determine the effective date of the revised code are occurring in September, with a final decision on the effective date to be made in October.  Similarly, later this month the Seattle City Council is scheduled to consider amendments to the Seattle Energy Code to reduce energy consumption by up to 20%, with such changes to go into effect later this year.

In addition, early this year the City of Seattle passed an ordinance to require commercial and multi-family building owners to measure the energy performance of their buildings, to report that information through the Energy STAR Portfolio Manager Program, and, upon request, to disclose the information to current and potential tenants, buyers, and lenders.  As of January 1, 2011, such reporting will be required for commercial properties over 50,000 square feet, which will affect approximately 680 buildings in Seattle.  The following year, the reporting requirements will be expanded to commercial properties between 10,000 and 50,000 square feet and multi-family properties with more than 5 units, which will affect approximately 2,330 commercial buildings and 5,760 multi-family residential buildings.

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