The Joint Environmental Task Force, or JET, was formed in April 2019 by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax County School Board. The JET's mission was to join the political and administrative capabilities of the county and the school system to proactively address climate change and environmental sustainability. The final meeting of the JET was held in January 2022. Meeting information and materials can be found here.
The JET aimed to set aggressive goals in areas of common influence such as workforce development, infrastructure and sustainability of public facilities and transportation, land use planning, communication, and community engagement. The JET provided a forum for collaboration and alignment of institutional policies and practices.
The JET was organized into four subcommittees: Energy, Transportation, Waste Reduction/Recycling, and Workforce Development.
In October 2020, the JET issued, and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors subsequently accepted, a final report with recommendations from each of the four subcommittees, including an overarching recommendation that Fairfax County Government be energy carbon neutral by 2040. This energy carbon neutrality goal and many of the other recommendations developed by the JET were thereafter adopted in July 2021 in Fairfax County's Carbon Neutral Counties Declaration and update to the Operational Energy Strategy.
The JET was composed of 13 members from the Board of Supervisors, the School Board, and the community at large. A full list of members is below.
Executive Board
Supervisor Dan Storck
Supervisor Penny Gross
School Board Chair Karen Corbett Sanders (April 2019 – August 2019)
School Board Member Elaine Tholen
School Board Member Karl Frisch
School Board Member Pat Hynes (April 2019 – December 2019)
School Board Member Dalia Palchik (August 2019 – December 2019)
Task Force Members
Richard Aiken
Karen Campblin
Richard Clayton
Meg Mall
Susan Stillman
Smita Chandra Thomas
Greg Ulses
Task Force Student Members
Wendy Gao
Ire Kim