Orange County (OC) Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley and Second District Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento hosted a climate resiliency investigation hearing on August 30, 2023. Local officials and environmental experts provided recommendations and participated in a panel discussion. There were also opportunities for the public to comment and provide input. At the beginning of the hearing, Foley and Sarmiento recognized that Orange County is the only county of its size that does not have a formally written plan for addressing the effects of climate change. Los Angeles County and San Diego County, as well as some OC cities, do have an action plan in place. This climate investigative hearing aimed to obtain input from experts and the community as the county moves forward with the overdue effort of writing its climate action plan.

The link to the hearing can be found here:

https://ocgov.granicus.com/player/clip/4960

Speakers

The investigative hearing covered a variety of topics including water resiliency, wildfires, stormwater capture and reuse, and sustainable transportation. In addition, representatives from the City of Costa Mesa, the City of Santa Ana, the City of Irvine, and the City of Laguna Beach spoke about issues in their cities and offered recommendations to the County. The following is a list of speakers with a time stamp for the video recording linked in the previous section.

Katrina Foley – OC Supervisor – Opening Remarks (1:18)

Vince Sarmiento – OC Supervisor – Opening Remarks (9:40)

Jennifer L. Bergener – OC Transportation Authority Deputy CEO – Sustainable Transportation (23:30)

Representative Mike Levin – California 49th Congressional District – San Clemente Beach Nourishment and New Railroad Corridor – (40:00)

Dr. Kathleen Treseder – OC Power Authority Vice Chair – Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Renewable Energy (47:26)

Jennifer L. Bergener – OCTA Deputy CEO – Alternative fuel for buses (59:57)

Public Comment Period (1:25:40)

Fire Chief Brian Fennessy – OC Fire Authority – Wildfires (02:09:11)

Professor Brett Sanders – University of Irvine Flood Center – Coastal/Beach Erosion (02:25:50)

Michelle Anderson – Director of Emergency Management Division of OC Sherriff’s Department – Mitigation Plans (02:41:44)

Amanda Carr – Deputy Director, OC Environmental Resources, OC Public Works – Stormwater Capture and Reuse Goal to Capture Stormwater from 10,000 Acres of Land (02:53:10)

Panel Discussion at 03:08:00

Gloria Alvarado – Executive Director of the OC Labor Federation – Labor Friendly State Energy Policy and Implementation (03:24:30)

Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong – County Health Officer/Chief of Public Health Services at OC Health Care Agency – Impacts of Climate Change on Health (03:32:50)

Patricia Jovel (PJ) Flores – Director of Orange County Environmental Injustice – Environmental Injustice in Low-Income Communities of Color in Orange County (03:45:44)

Ryan Bloom – President of OC Recycling – (04:04:16)

Panel Discussion at 04:18:00

Public Comment and Discussion at 04:40:00

Director Tom Koultroulis and Deputy CEO Lily Simmerinng – County of Orange – Next steps for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (04:59:39)

Bob Whalen – Mayor of Laguna Beach – Climate planning in Laguna Beach, CA (05:36:18)

Farrah N. Khan – Mayor of Irvine – Climate planning in Irvine, CA (05:45:50)

Jessie Lopez – Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Santa Ana, Ward 3 – Climate planning in Santa Ana, CA (05:59:18)

John Stephens – Mayor of Costa Mesa – Climate planning in Costa Mesa, CA (06:13:40)

Takeaways

Climate change is a complex issue that impacts many facets of society including transportation, health, and beach health. However, the effects of climate change will more severely impact certain communities (e.g., low income and communities of color). For this reason, it is important to incorporate environmental justice into the County’s climate action plan. Water resilience, fire mitigation, recycling, beach protection, and the railroad corridor in San Clemente were important points of discussion. Finally, city officials also emphasized the importance of ensuring that there is funding available to implement the climate action plan.