Mission Statement: Sustainable Tri-Cities provides opportunities for people of the Tri-Cities to learn about and act on ways to protect our environment for a healthy and rapidly changing future.

EVENTS

April is Earth Month. See calendar beloe, from Keep America Beautiful.

April is also Native Plant Appreciation Month! Check out the Columbia Basin Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society for upcoming native plant related activities and events including information on self-guided wildflower walks, free in person events, and more!

April 1. Turf Alternatives-Waterwise Landscaping in Eastern WA. 5:30pm-7:30pm. Your lawn is a thirst trap, and we’re in a drought! Join the Benton Conservation District Heritage Garden Program to learn about turf alternatives and waterwise landscaping in our region. What to bring: A bird’s eye view print out of your property or a space you steward with estimated measurements of your lot.  Pencil and note paper. Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, Richland. RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/Ani8sbbvYTb1Gszx6

April 1- May 2.^.Middleton Farms Tulip Festival. A wide variety of fun-filled family activities.

April 4. First Saturday Bird Walk. 8am. At Sacajawea State Park . A state Discover pass is required to park within the park. We may see owls or wild turkeys! LCB Audubon society.

April 4. Wildflower Walk + Bioblitz 2026 Kick-off Event. 12 – 2pm. Engage in community science and collect data on living organisms within the preserve. Event by Columbia Basin Native Plant Society . Meet at Westgate Trailhead parking lot off Dallas Rd. Join the iNaturalist project April 1- May 31.  

April 8. Spring Boredom Busters: Upcycled Art. Create. Explore. Sustain. 10am – 12pm. REACH Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland.

April 9. Little Explorers: Spring Flowers. 10:15am – 11:15am. Hands-on exploration of petals, colors, leaves, and pollinators! REACH Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland.

April 11. Planting Vegetable Gardens.10:30am. Kennewick Library, 1620 S Union St Kennewick. Join WSU Master Gardeners to learn about science-based companion planting strategies for the vegetable garden.

April 12. Saddle Mt. Hike. Meet at 9:00am at the Park & Ride on the corner of Van Giesen and the Bypass Highway 240 to carpool. Event by Friends of Mid-Columbia River Wildlife Refuges.

April 16. The Future Flows Here: Eastern Washington Water Resource Management. Badger Club Forum. 12- 1:30pm. Register Here. Kennewick Irrigation District 2015 S. Ely, Kennewick, and online.

April 18. 4^th Annual Tri-Cities Earth Day. 12pm-4pm. Sustainable Tri-Cities is proud to be a partner of the Earth Day event every year at the REACH Museum.  This event allows the community to get together to celebrate environmental stewardship and healthy living. This year’s featured speaker: Nick Zentner, is known across the Pacific NW for making geology, climate, and landscape science engaging and accessible for all ages. There will be other presentations and activities for all ages by local educators, artists, and conservation groups. At 1:15pm is Dr. Steve Ghan: Climate Actions. There’s also an EV show! Meet the owners and go for a test drive. Enjoy the food trucks, live entertainment, and many local organizations See us at the STC table. We will have free plants and fun things for kids and adults.  1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland. Free.

April 22. TC Chapter Citizens’ Climate Lobby monthly meeting. 7pm. Shalom UCC church Zoom . Participate on climate solution teams: Carbon Pricing, Healthy Forests, Building Electrification and Efficiency, and Clean Energy Permitting Reform, and help plan local educational events.

April 25. Community Coffee Chats.10am. Join STC at the Tri-Cities Food Co-op, 1420 Jadwin, Richland. Review Earth Day at the REACH, what new state environmental laws to follow up on, i.e. SB 5982 on data centers, and continue to work together on the comprehensive plans for our community. If you are aware of other opportunities, bring them with you to share. STC monthly meeting follows.  Let’s make change together!

April 29. Community Health Improvement Plan with BFHD. 3:30 – 5pm. Launch party for the 2026-2028 for Benton and Franklin Counties CHIP. We’ll share our community’s top health priorities and actions we’ll take together over the next three years on our five priority areas: Access to Care, Safe Drinking Water, Housing, Food Insecurity, and Mental Health, followed by time for Q&A. RSVP at: forms.office.com/r/yRF2bQ5pyf. Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Dr., Richland.

April 30. Benton Franklin Council of Gov’t Regional Transportation Plan Survey event. 5pm-7pm. Stop by for a complementary coffee and fill out a brief survey on regional planning efforts that impact transportation, air quality, and community development. Staff will be available to chat with you about your opinions! Tri-Cities Food Co-op, 1420 Jadwin, Richland.

April 30. Clean Energy Siting Council Tribal Forum. The Interagency Clean Energy Siting Coordinating Council wants to hear about your interests, concerns and suggestions regarding clean energy siting and permitting topics. 9:30-11am. Register on Zoom.  The Council includes 13 state agencies and is co-chaired by the WA State Departments of Ecology and Commerce. It does not make decisions on individual projects. This forum will help inform the Council’s annual report, which identifies siting and permitting challenges and recommends policy improvements.

May 2. Bike Trail Clean up. 9-11am. May is Bike month! Let’s clean the trails. Meet at Ben Franklin Transit Parking lot, Columbia Trail. For more information contact sustainableTriCities@gmail.com.  

Actions for April

Help at the Sustainable Tri-Cities table at the April 18 Earth Day event! Sustainabletricities1@gmail.com

Get your Heritage Garden Certified this spring!  What are the main certification requirements? Take the Heritage Garden Program survey on how they can better help you meet your waterwise, native gardening needs:  https://forms.gle/RBDJqwuyKSQMLz8cA   Check out the Heritage Garden Website Garden Tours page to virtually tour all the 2025 gardens certified! 

Reminders

Benton and Franklin County and each city is working on updating their comprehensive plans which are due December 2026, including adding a climate element. It guides decision-making, regulations, and investments towards meeting community goals over the coming 20 years. Now is your chance to speak up!

Benton County Comprehensive Plan Updates.   Use planning.department@co.benton.wa.us to send a comment and to add your email address to their distribution list so future notices are sent directly to you. You can also attend monthly meetings at 6pm, Commissioners’ Hearing Room 303, 3^rd floor Building E, 7122 W. Okanogan Place, Kennewick.

Kennewick – Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update | Kennewick, WA

Pasco survey: https://bit.ly/m/Pasco2046

City of Richland Transportation Survey for the 2026 Comprehensive Plan. March 1- April 6.

…See the Sustainable Tri-Cities Resource Directory and let us know what needs to be added.  Send your events and volunteer opportunities to SustainableTricities1@gmail.org   so we can post them on our website and put them in this newsletter.

What we did in March

Helped pass new laws during the WA State 2026 Legislative Session:

HB 2215:  Climate Commitment Act compliance obligations for fuels supplied or otherwise sold into WA. Gov. signed, partial veto.Effective 6/11/2026.

HB 2251 Climate Commitment Act Accounts. defines how money will be distributed from CCA funds. It will enhance the public’s understanding of how the money is spent. (People are not aware of the benefits).

HB 2089  Restoring Funding to WA’s Wildfire Response Account. (With our drought, we will need it!)

HB 2296 Expanding distributed energy resources.  Section on balcony solar was removed.

 SB 5982 Updating provisions for consumer-owned utilities, including port districts, and affected market customers under the Clean Energy Transformation Act. Data centers that generate electricity for their own consumption must now comply with CETA.

SB 6026 Concerning residential development in commercial and mixed-use zones. Would restrict any jurisdiction subject to the Growth Management Act from prohibiting residential uses in a commercial zone, allowing more opportunity for development of affordable housing.

 SB 6355   Electric transmission system (replacement for SB 5466) Create partnerships to improve the reliability and capacity of the transmission system, including through a WA electric transmission authority.

(SB 5965 Plastic Bag Bill, and the Beverage deposit, aka Bottle Bill. HB 1607 did not pass).

Thank you to everyone who has helped with this effort!

Monthly Earth Day 2026 planning meetings. We are on the planning team. Jenni is playing a key role organizing the event, and created an Earth Day 2026 Guideto promote the 4^th Annual Earth Day event, REACH Museum, April 18, 12pm to 4pm.

March 10. INEF talk: Critical Minerals. STC listened to the ‘strategies’ to solve the US need to step-up rare earth production:

1. Association of Miners said all the easy-to-get-to Rare Earth minerals/elements have already been mined in the USA, therefore they need access to Federal Lands. Plus streamline the permitting process, particularly the NEPA hurdles.

2. The USA must establish a national economic policy to compete or better yet overtake the lead that the “Communist Chinese” have already established in cornering the Rare Earth market. The Chinese are number one in sourcing, processing, and shipping Rare Earth minerals/elements. The Chinese currently ship rocks from the USA to be processed, and a slurry of Rare Earth minerals are then sold back to US electronics and energy manufacturers. 

3. US Research is experimenting with less destructive methods of extracting rare earth minerals by injecting high pressure fluid capable of penetrating rocks deep in the ground, which sounds very similar to the destabilizing process of fracking oil and gas out of shale deposits (common in the NE States throughout the 70’s and 80’s).

March 21. Attended the 16^th LD Town Hall meeting, at the Richland City Hall.Asked about data centers. Our legislators only spoke of the perceived benefits (economy). Want local control of transmission siting.

March 26. Attended the Badger Club forum OUR ENERGY FUTURE: Can We Meet the Demand? Watch the video HERE. Or the Special to the Herald . PUD speaker stated data centers can not be built here.

March 27. Table at Jefferson Elementary School.  Focused on reduce, reuse, recycle, including a live slug (recycles plant waste). Promoted Earth Day at the REACH and other Earth Month events.

March 28. Community Coffee Chat and STC monthly meeting. Worked on comments for the Benton County Comp plan and gave an update on the enviro bills for the 2026 WA Legislative session.

News and Things to Read

• Earth Day Guide 2026. Pick one up at a local library, coffee shop, or at the Food Co-Op.

Articles include:

Everyday nature in the Basin- Discover the eco-system around us

Waterwise and Wonderful – turn a lawn into a pollinator paradise

Local food all year round– What’s in season

Is recycling worth it? – How to waste less

Are we prepared? – Tri-Cities regional climate actions

Legislation debated in 2026– Decisions that affect our environment

2026 Fun activities and learning for kids– highlights from the community

• Tumbleweird Magazine

Pg. 31. Good News on Climate Change: Part 2: Can nature help stabilize carbon dioxide concentration? Fortunately, the answer is YES. By Steve Ghan and Bob Wegeng

Pg. 22. This rock we call home. By Pauline Schafer.

• Balcony solar is taking state legislatures by storm. Canary media article.                 
• More on balcony solar:

https://www.hcn.org/articles/why-western-states-are-pushing-for-plug-in-solar/page

utahcleanenergy.org/balcony-solar-bringing-the-sun-home/