Overview

• Washtenaw County’s environmental year was defined by real local progress under tougher external conditions. County agencies advanced climate governance, clean energy infrastructure in Ann Arbor, river restoration in Ypsilanti, and water-quality regulation affecting agriculture, even as federal rollbacks and new industrial pressures narrowed the margin for error.

• The County’s Resiliency Office is now operating as the implementation center for the Resilient Washtenaw Climate Action Plan. Its published mission is to support county departments and all 28 municipalities in meeting the targets of carbon-neutral county operations by 2030 and countywide carbon neutrality by 2035.

• Ann Arbor’s climate work inside the county moved into rollout mode in 2025 through the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU). The SEU is defined by the city as an opt-in utility intended to deliver 100% renewable energy using local solar, battery storage, and networked geothermal systems, with continuing implementation updates issued through the year.

• Ypsilanti’s Huron River restoration projects secured major state backing. EGLE’s Dam Risk Reduction Grant Program, on May 8, 2025, awarded $2.5 million to remove the Tyler Dam and Beyer Dam, and the Peninsular Paper Dam removal remained an active watershed-council restoration effort through 2025.

• Two forces shaped the county’s challenges and next steps: federal retrenchment and emerging data-center pressure. In 2025, NOAA layoffs cut eight staff at Ann Arbor’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, and EPA canceled Solar for All on August 7, ending Michigan’s $156 million low-income solar portfolio; meanwhile, the county elevated data centers as a distinct environmental issue amid multiple proposals, and waste policy is queued for early 2026 public comment as the county prepares its new master plan while Arbor Hills Landfill approaches capacity.

Transcription

David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and 2025 is rapidly coming to a close. I’m David Fair, and welcome to Issues of the Environment. In many ways, we can look at the past year as a success in advancing environmental initiatives and aspirations, but changes in federal priorities and policies also present local challenges and new hurdles to overcome. We thought we would touch on the 2025 environmental year in Washtenaw County as the New Year approaches. Our guest today is Beth Gibbons, and Beth is director of the Washtenaw County Resiliency Office. And thank you so much for the time today!

Beth Gibbons: Thanks so much for having me on, David!

David Fair: Is it fair to say 2025 has been an adventure in the Resiliency Office?

Beth Gibbons: Oh, it has! It has been an adventure for people who love roller coasters.

David Fair: Well, let’s put a focus on some of the year’s highlights. Broadly speaking, how do you rate the progress made on the Resilient Washtenaw Climate Action Plan of reaching carbon neutral county operations by 2030 and countywide neutrality by 2035?

Beth Gibbons: I couldn’t be happier with the work that the county is doing on these goals. They’re ambitious, but I think that they’re achievable. And what the county has been working on internally through our facilities team, but many other partners, we’re really, I think, showing how this work can happen through decarbonizing our buildings, installing solar, changing our fleet over to electric vehicles. And then, we just see a tremendous amount of partnership across the whole county. Townships and cities and villages are all taking action, and that includes work that we see from out in Chelsea where they’ve been installing solar on their wastewater treatment facility, to Ann Arbor Township, where they’ve just been awarded a grant from the state of Michigan to solarize their town hall. And, of course, we have the City of Ann Arbor, which is doing just tremendous work leading and demonstrating what it can really look like to take on climate goals in a creative and inventive way.

David Fair: I’m glad you brought that up, because I do want to discuss the progress being made in Ann Arbor toward the operational Sustainable Energy Utility. Now, while progress on that front continues, how do you forecast its impact on city and county goals?

Beth Gibbons: Well, I think that it’s going have a tremendous impact on the City of Ann Arbor schools. I mean, the SEU is innovative. It demonstrates what it can look like when you look at a challenge, like what Ann Arbor has committed to, which is being a 100% carbon neutral by 2030, and say, “What does that mean we have to do? We have to take control of our own utility. We have to be able to give residents access to more clean energy options.” And they’re effectively doing that. The opportunity that we have as a whole county in seeing the SEU leadership is to consider what does it look like for us to maybe adopt a similar model. But if not adopt a similar model, we know that this is going to increase the purchasing power of the whole county toward renewable energy systems. And I’ll say the City of Ann Arbor is about 50% of the total emissions for the county. So, Ann Arbor reaching its emission reduction targets is the county reaching our targets too.

David Fair: Another area of environmental advancement this year has been out on the water. State funding has come through to help with removal of the Peninsular Paper dam in Ypsilanti, as well as the Tyler and Beyer Dams on Willow Run Creek. What environmental benefits do you see being derived from these removal projects?

Beth Gibbons: Dam removal is something that’s near and dear to my heart. I live in Ypsilanti and have been involved in the Penn Dam conversations and the river restoration work here for a number of years.

David Fair: Opinions are not unanimous, right?

Beth Gibbons: They’re not unanimous, no. It’s not easy to lose something that feels like a piece of cultural heritage the way that Peninsular Dam is to many people. I mean, just in this note, I’ll remind everyone that the dam is coming out, but the paper mill building is going to remain. The sign is going remain. The way that we look and kind of see that as iconic to Ypsilanti will stay in place. But when we take out dams, we are able to restore ecosystems. We are able to improve water quality throughout the river system or the creek system. And importantly, for the well-being, both physically and economically for our communities, we reduce flood risk tremendously. There’s really very few things that we can do that are as impactful as a dam removal when we think about how do we reduce flood risk in a community and improve an ecosystem. And we know that the ponds that pool behind dams are also sources of methane. And so, we don’t often talk about dam removals for their mitigation benefit, but it’s actually a really important step for us also working towards our emission reduction goals.

David Fair: A lot of positives we’ve been talking about! Our 2025 year-in-review conversation with Beth Gibbons continues on 89.1 WEMU’s Issues of the Environment. Beth is the director of the Washtenaw County Resiliency Office. Let’s talk about some of the challenges that have marked our journey through the year. There’s been a clear shift in federal priorities and policy, and much of it has been deemed by environmental groups as destructive to the health of our air, land, and water. How do you see deregulation policies impacting our local ability to meet environmental goals and aspirations?

Beth Gibbons: Yeah, the federal shift in policy has been an incredible challenge for us. I think there is the uncertainty that it has thrown into all of our work. There are a lot of policies that have been proposed by the Trump Administration that remain to be tested in court and have final verdict come from courts. But in the meantime, it leaves organizations and municipalities and the state, I think, in a position that they’re not really sure how to act. Some of the impacts that, I would say, we’ve felt most acutely here have been in the termination of grants and programs, which were really kind of supercharging our climate and sustainability efforts in the area. One program that I really want to call attention to is the cancelation of the tax incentives or the direct pay program, as it’s called. And these are tax incentives which are available for households and also for nonprofits and for governments to install renewable energy systems. And that program has really been a boon for churches, for nonprofits, for municipalities, and for homeowners to be able to take control of their own energy system, reduce costs for energy at their home, and to participate in a clean energy economy. And the cancelation of that program is one that I think is an error and, I would say, a massive misstep. Very disappointing!

David Fair: Well, a lot of what is present day comes out of research that has been conducted from some agencies that are under fire. Staffing at the EPA and other parts of the federal environmental workforce have been slashed, and that has certainly made research oversight and enforcement more difficult. Cuts at EPA Region Five office that oversees our area–those have been enacted. Cuts have been made to NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Ann Arbor. What is the path forward to adapt to that reality and overcome the additional burden it brings?

Beth Gibbons: Yeah, I’m really glad that you brought that up. You know, this is something that we’ve talked about at the county level quite a bit, both in the Washtenaw County Environmental Council and in the Board of Commissioners. Federal workers make up 1.4% of the national workforce and 1.6% of our local workforce. There’s 4,500 jobs in Washtenaw County that are federal employees. And so, we’re really thinking about the impact that this has on the mental and emotional health and well-being of our neighbors and residents, but also on the economic well-being. We are going to have to be more diligent in checking our resources and checking our sources and making sure that we’re kind of getting to the best available information–data–when we’re doing our reporting, because it’s not as readily available. If you look at the cuts that happened to the NOAA Great Lakes Lab, it was a lot of their communication staff, I think maybe all of their communication staff whom we’re eliminated. And so, that means that it’s just that much more difficult for those of us out in the field doing work to make sure that we’re arming ourselves with best available information. If you’re somebody who is a resident, make sure that you’re going to the most reputable sources and that you’re also maybe recognizing where good data used to be readily available to you. Maybe it’s about water quality. Maybe it’s about wind speeds or air speeds on the lakes and how that is starting to be less available or less regularly updated. And don’t be afraid to call your representatives and let them know that these are having real impacts on you.

David Fair: Well, we started talking about all of the positive things that happened in 2025, and I want to end on the same note. So, let’s take a look ahead at 2026. What are the areas you are most optimistic about?

Beth Gibbons: Well, there are some exciting things that are coming up in 2026. The county is preparing what’s called a Materials Management Plan. I think that there are many people that are already clued into this, but if you’re not yet, it’s important to be paying attention to. The Materials Management Plan is the tool that the county will use that helps us guide towards how we’re handling our waste. It’s going to include opportunities for us to think about composting programs across the county. We actually are piloting a compost program right now in three municipalities, including Ypsilanti. We’re going to be talking about what to do with a landfill at Arbor Hills, which is a really hot topic for many people. So, opportunities to provide input into what happens in that facility are on the horizon. You know, I think, as we look ahead, there’s a little bit of opportunity for us to be adjusted to what is a new and not entirely pleasant climate that we’re working in with this federal administration. But I think people are finding their feet and finding the networks that they need to continue doing the good work that we’ve always done. And as somebody who’s been working on climate for the last 15 years, this work has never been easy. And as we come into 2026, I think that there’s going to be some more grit and will to dig in and take on that work and do it in a collaborative way across the county.

David Fair: Thank you so much for making time to talk with us today! I certainly appreciate it! And I look forward to talking with you again in 2026 as we reach some more goals!

Beth Gibbons: Excellent! Thank you so much, David! I appreciate being on!

David Fair: That is Beth Gibbons. She is director of the Washtenaw County Resiliency Office and has been our guest on Issues of the Environment. For more information, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I’m David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.

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