It’s time for clean-fuel standard in Washington. Climate change is coming at us hard
For a state whose calling card is the fresh air of the great outdoors, we haven’t fared too well at protecting it. After failing numerous times to pass a low-carbon fuel mandate on the ballot and in the statehouse, Washington is again standing at a crossroads.
Environmentalists and anyone else concerned about climate change have a slender reed of hope. A plan to gradually reduce carbon-intense transportation fuels over the next 15 years passed 52-44 in the state House and now awaits action in the Senate.
If passed before Thursday’s scheduled end of the session, it would take effect January 2022.
Lawmakers shouldn’t back down and let House Bill 1110 languish in the Senate like they did last year. Send it to the governor for his signature.
The math on this is impossible to ignore: The state Department of Ecology reports that 40 percent of Washington’s greenhouse emissions comes from the transportation sector, and this pollution is negatively impacting every corner of the state.
From the rising frequency of wildfires to profound changes in marine ecosystems, from chronic respiratory illnesses to other health concerns, the reasons to invest in clean energy are compelling. We have to dramatically cut tailpipe emissions, and this bill provides a reasonable timetable.
The transportation industry would be required to reduce carbon-intense fuels to 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2028, then again to 20 percent below 2017 levels by 2035.
This isn’t a radical effort to stop global warming. Many environmentalists would say it doesn’t go far enough. But since voluntary, good-steward approaches haven’t worked, political action is necessary.
Opponents call it another regressive tax, and they’re not wrong. The cost of these new standards will be passed on to consumers. The big question is: How much?
Evidence from our neighbors suggests gas-price hikes may fall into a moderate range. Since Oregon enacted its clean-fuel policy in 2015, it has led to an estimated 2.2-cent-per-gallon gas-price increase. In the seven years California has had its standard, consumers pay about 9 cents more per gallon as a result of it.
This doesn’t take into account the cost of goods and services moving through our transportation corridor; that, too, would surely go up.
But keep in mind, a clean-fuel standard may be coming to Pierce County, whether we like it or not. The Puget Sound Clean Energy Board appears ready to impose a standard on four urban counties in our region if HB 1110 doesn’t pass.
At least the statewide proposal has been vetted for two years through a process of give and take. Political bargaining produced compromises we can live with: agriculture, off-road logging and construction would be exempt, along with the military, airlines, marine vessels and railroads.
Negotiators also have come up with guardrails to protect major state road projects that will need money in the next several years, such as replacement of the Interstate 5- Columbia River crossing. Until a new transportation spending package is adopted, the clean-fuels program stays on hold.
We won’t pretend the plan isn’t complicated. But that hasn’t stopped other states from taking bold measures, and it shouldn’t stop Washington.
In a span of seven years, California cut its carbon pollution by 38 million tons.
In Washington, by contrast, we’ve been going in the wrong direction. Greenhouse emissions went up 1.7 percent in 2016 and stayed flat in 2017, at 97.5 million tons, according to the state’s most recent inventory.
Under the Democrat-sponsored program, every type of fuel would get a score based on carbon intensity. Producers and importers of traditional petroleum have flexibility in how to comply with the law: They could either meet the clean-fuel standard, or they could buy credits earned by producers of lower-carbon alternatives.
Supporters say the new policy is sure to trigger leaps in the biofuel industry and create scores of clean-energy jobs now flocking to Oregon and California.
Some infrastructure is already in place. Take a trip to Grays Harbor and you can see a biorefinery that turns fats, grease, cooking and vegetable oil into 100 million gallons of high-quality biodiesel per year.
Yes, Washington ranks among the highest states for gas prices, but the question before senators boils down to this: Will you prioritize short-term pragmatism or long-term problem solving?
Look at it this way: Our parents and grandparents’ generations didn’t fight wars for short-term interests; they made sacrifices because they wanted their children and grandchildren to grow up in a free world.
Today, we’re asking elected leaders to embrace another long-term goal, that of a healthier planet.
What a fitting declaration this would be ahead of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day next month.