New Orleans (Platts)--22May2009

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire ordered the state late Thursday to
develop carbon emission reduction strategies and to remain involved in
regional cap-and-trade program, the Western Climate Initiative.

Gregoire signed the order after legislation to accomplish the same goals
failed to pass the state Legislature earlier this year.

"We as a nation and a state must address climate change today. Tomorrow
is too late," Gregoire said in a statement issued by her office.

Gregoire issued her executive order after testifying before a US
Environmental Protection Agency panel in Seattle to gather comments on the EPA
proposal that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare.

The executive order directs the Department of Ecology to identify by
December each facility that emits 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide
equivalent each year. The department should also work with the owners of those
facilities to develop recommended strategies by October 2010 to reduce their
emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The department is also to develop emission
benchmarks that might be covered by a federal or regional cap and trade
program.

In addition, the order directs the department to work with the state's
only coal plant, TransAlta's Centralia facility, to reach the state's
greenhouse gas targets of 25% below 1990 levels by 2025.

Legislation that would have established greenhouse gas reduction targets
was fought by industry, including some electric utilities, saying it would
harm the economy.