Mar 07 - Columbian, Wash.


The 2009 Legislature is proving unfriendly to bold environmental initiatives.

Washington environmental groups set their sights this year on winning passage of legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions, promote super-efficient energy use in buildings, spur transit-friendly development and pay for the cleanup of the state's waters through a tax on petroleum refiners.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's own environmental agenda includes legislation to reduce Washington's contribution to global warming through a regulatory cap and a bill to raise energy efficiency standards in the state building code by 30 percent over time.

But halfway through the session, the fate of most of these bills remains clouded, and Washington's reputation as a national leader on climate change could hang in the balance.

A Senate committee gutted the heart of Gregoire's cap-and-trade bill, making participation by businesses voluntary.

A bill that would have phased in tougher energy efficiency standards for buildings was amended to delay its implementation until 2031 and take away local governments' authority to pay for incentives for energy conservation through new bonding authority.

A bill that proposed to add a climate change goal to the Growth Management Act was weakened and now carries no consequences for local governments that fail to plan for compact, transit-friendly development.

"This is a tough session for everyone and I don't think the environment is any exception," said Kerry McHugh of the Washington Environmental Council. With lawmakers focused on a projected $8 billion budget deficit, she said, "There's not a lot of oxygen."

Renewable energy bar being lowered

The Legislature also appears poised to weaken the law implementing voter-approved Initiative 937, which requires utilities to get 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Senate Bill 5840, prime-sponsored by Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, "clearly dismantles I-937," said Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver. "It literally adds so many things to the allowable energy sources that it renders the standards meaningless."

Marr's bill, awaiting action in the Senate, would cap the renewable energy requirement at a lower level, allow utilities to grandfather in existing energy sources such as biomass and small hydropower projects, and permit them to substitute energy conservation for acquiring new renewable sources such as solar and wind power.

Those changes would effectively cancel out the law's renewable energy standard, according to the Northwest Energy Coalition, which opposes Marr's bill.

Clark Public Utilities testified in favor of the changes. But Port of Vancouver Executive Director Larry Paulson urged a legislative committee in January to "avoid diluting Initiative 937," noting that wind energy development has been a boon to the port.

Cap and trade

Perhaps the biggest question mark surrounds proposed climate change legislation.

Washington is one of seven states and four Canadian provinces that signed on to the Western Climate Initiative, which in 2007 set a regional goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

To date, only California has passed legislation to implement the initiative through a cap-and-trade system. Under such a system, companies would initially buy permits from the government to emit carbon dioxide. Companies would trade the permits among themselves or elect to install pollution controls. The number of permits would be reduced each year.

"Cap and invest," a variation favored by Pridemore and many environmental groups, would invest revenue from the permits in green energy and do away with permit trading.

The governor's bill, Senate Bill 5735, originally required major industries to limit the greenhouse gases they emit beginning in 2012, with details on the trade of emissions to be worked out later.

It was amended in the Senate Environment, Water and Energy Committee and now directs the Department of Ecology to design voluntary emission targets and a voluntary emissions registry and report back to the Legislature.

Republican lawmakers warned that a cap-and-trade system would result in unemployment and higher utility bills at a time when the state is bleeding jobs. The powerful Association of Washington Business also opposed the legislation.

"It's an economy-killer," said Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, also a member of the Climate Advisory Team. "Our small businesses can barely keep their doors open now. Jobs are hanging by a thread."

Pridemore, vice chairman of the committee, declined to add his name to the bill's list of sponsors. He doesn't expect to see a bill to implement the Western Climate Initiative this year.

Becky Kelley of the Washington Environmental Council said she isn't giving up.

The Senate bill and a separate House bill "are very much works in progress," Kelley said. "I know the governor remains very committed to moving forward with action on climate change this year."

Obama focus

Some opponents of climate change legislation have suggested that the states step back and let the Obama administration take the lead on climate change legislation. President Obama's budget, released last week, envisions raising $79 billion by 2012 through a cap-and-trade program in which companies pay to emit carbon dioxide.

Kelley thinks the new administration's focus makes it even more important for the state to act.

"It is now looking much more real that there will be a cap and trade program," she said. Washington, with its agricultural industries, its forests and its abundant hydropower, needs to play a role in developing that program by endorsing the Western Climate Initiative, she said.

"We have a lot to gain by helping to shape a federal program, and potentially a lot to lose by not being at the table," Kelley said. "Increasingly the shape of the conversation is, 'What can we do to move forward in reducing our emissions and building our clean energy economy, and how can we influence this ongoing regional national debate about cap and trade?' I think this is going to be a live conversation through the end of session."