The Sierra Club South Sound Group fights for environmental priorities across Thurston, Mason, Grays Harbor, and Lewis counties in the State of Washington.
Ed Humble is the Chair of the Group Executive Committee. To contact Ed or other Group officers, please email sosound.sierraclub@gmail.com
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2026 Midterm Election Endorsements
Monthly Community Meetings & Events
Sept. 15th, 2026 -- How Do We Mitigate the Public Health Risk of Extreme Heat Events in the PNW?
Our Community Meetings at the Olympia Center are regularly scheduled at 6 pm on the third Tuesday of the month from September through May.
All Sierra Club meetings are free and open to the public.
Action Alert
Help Sierra Club Advance an Affordable Clean Energy Future in the State of Washington
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| SEP. 15, 2026 COMMUNITY MEETING |
How Do We Mitigate the Public Health Risk of Extreme Heat Events in the PNW?
Gordon Wheat and Lisa Parshley will discuss the public health risk of extreme heat events, focusing on the risk for residents of the Puget Sound region.
Gordon will discuss why the risk is increasing rapidly and why it is greater for our region than for other areas of the country. He will discuss ways to mitigate this risk, especially for the marginalized and most vulnerable residents, and explain how heat response planning can help greatly.
Lisa will discuss last session's legislation and how to approach legislation for the coming 2027 session of the state legislature.
Gordon Wheat is a physician who practiced medicine and public health in Olympia for 34 years. He initiated the development of the Thurston County Extreme Heat Emergency Response and Illness Prevention Plan. He is the board member of the Thurston Climate Action Team most focused on public health climate resilience. TCAT has obtained 3 grants for providing portable heat pumps to low-income renters who are particularly vulnerable to morbidity and mortality from extreme heat events, helping to improve these individuals' likelihood of extreme heat event survival. He also leads the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility Climate Task Force Extreme Heat Working Group, which focuses on state legislation.
Lisa Parshley is a Washington State representative in the 22nd Legislative District. She is a climate and environmental champion and one of the few health care providers in the legislature, as a practicing veterinarian.
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Meeting Details
Sep. 15th - Meetings every Third Tuesday
Program Begins at 6:00 pm
OLYMPIA COMMUNITY CENTER
Room 101
222 Columbia St NW, Olympia, WA 98501
Invite others using this link: SoSoSC.org
Observe Parking Signs for Free parking areas and hours at Percival Landing Olympia Center Parking. Enter at Thurston Ave.
Free parking on nearby Streets & City Parking Lots after 5:00 pm.
Intercity Transit buses are free with stops for several routes every 15-30 minutes located within 1 block of the Olympia Center.
Sierra Club meetings are always open to the public at no cost.
Hope you can join us! Bring a guest!
Registration is not required.
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| ACTION ALERT |
Help Sierra Club Advance an Affordable Clean Energy Future in the State of Washington
Sierra Club has intervened to stop Puget Sound Energy (PSE) get approval from its regulator, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), to increase customer energy rates by over $1.5 billion over the next three years. By 2029, this would increase a typical residential customer’s monthly electric bill by $51 (nearly 30%), and would increase their monthly gas bill by $23 (nearly 20%).
We need help now to let the UTC know that you, your friends and neighbors oppose its approval of PSE plans to fund its fossil fuel projects.
Many of the investments PSE is making will benefit its customers and are needed to strengthen the grid, meet growing demand, and provide low-cost clean energy that makes progress toward Washington’s decarbonization requirements under the Clean Energy Transformation Act and Climate Commitment Act.
However, PSE is also requesting hundreds of millions for fossil-powered generation, including $600 million to convert the Centralia coal-fired power plant to run on methane gas. PSE has asked for over $860 million to maintain and expand its system of pipelines that delivers methane gas to homes and buildings, including $3.4 million for a pilot project to pipe polluting, leak-prone, and explosive hydrogen gas into homes and businesses. These fossil fuel projects make it harder and more expensive to meet Washington’s decarbonization requirements, adding hundreds of millions in annual compliance costs on top of the costs of building and running the fossil fuel equipment. These are costs that would not exist if PSE instead pursued clean energy resources that inherently meet decarbonization requirements.
In many cases, PSE did not properly consider whether it could meet customers’ energy needs with cleaner, cheaper alternatives to the fossil fuel projects. The Centralia coal conversion project did not undergo the same vetting process as most of PSE’s electric generation resources, and PSE missed an opportunity to acquire a large available solar facility called the
Sunstone Solar Project. PSE has also largely failed to consider cost-saving non-pipeline alternatives (NPAs) to its gas system investments, even though the UTC explicitly ordered it to do so in its last rate case. NPAs such as electrification and energy efficiency can reduce gas demand and avoid costly new pipeline investments that lock in emissions and long-term costs for customers.
The NW Energy Coalition, Front and Centered, Climate Solutions, Washington Conservation Action, and Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, have intervened in PSE’s rate case to help advance an affordable clean energy transition and alleviate energy burdens in line with Washington’s objectives.
To learn more about what we are doing and how you can help, we have prepared the PSE 2026 Rate Case Public Comment Toolkit.
Please use this toolkit to prepare and submit your comments by October 14 to have the greatest impact.
In addition, the toolkit describes where, when and how you can voice your thoughts at public hearings scheduled on September 29 and October 7.
Thank you for anything you can do to help advance an Affordable Clean Energy Future in the State of Washington.
Your Sierra Club South Sound Group,
Edward Humble
Sierra Club South Sound Group Chair
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