OLYMPIA — A new state Department of Ecology report says deeper cuts in carbon emissions are required in the next 35 years to help Washington defend against damaging effects of climate change.
The study quietly released earlier this month recommends adopting emission limits imposed in California and several other states that are nearly twice as stringent as existing Washington law.
“In recent years we have observed devastating wildfires, drought, lack of snowpack, and increases in ocean acidification. These events are examples of what our future will look like if we fail to take action,” the report states. “While Washington cannot singlehandedly solve climate change, we can do our part, and set an example for other states and jurisdictions.”
Under a 2008 law signed by then-Gov. Chris Gregoire, the state set a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020; to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2035; and to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Ecology officials now want to speed things up, recommending emissions be reduced to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2035. And by 2050, they recommend emissions be 80 percent below the 1990 total.
These targets reflect those adopted by California, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the European Union and the United States in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, the report says. And they are in line with the 2015 Paris agreement, in which countries agreed on the need to take steps that will keep global temperature increases to below 2°C.
“This level of emission reduction is consistent with what will be required from industrialized countries to avoid the damage and impacts that Washington will otherwise face,” the report concludes.
Gov. Jay Inslee embraces the recommendations though he’ll let lawmakers decide whether to rewrite existing law, his spokesman said.
“Washington’s greenhouse gas reduction goals were put in place by the Legislature in 2008. In the meantime, scientific understanding has progressed and global emissions have increased,” said Chase Gallagher, a spokesman for the governor. “It makes sense to modernize those goals to include everything we know from all the best available science of today.”
The Republican chairman of the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee called the ecology report a waste of time and taxpayer money.
“It would be dumb to do this,” said Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, one of the GOP’s sharpest critics of Inslee’s climate change policies. “The existing goals are nonbinding and have absolutely no impact on anything. I do not anticipate we would be doubling these nonbinding goals.”
Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, who is vice chairman of the House Environment Committee, had not seen the report. Upon hearing of its findings and recommendations, he said he hoped the information injects a degree of urgency into efforts to reduce emissions by boosting the state’s clean energy economy.
He acknowledged it “would be tough” to pass a bill this session to put the stricter goals in place “in spite of the science that is out there and all the information coming that we’ve got to act now.”
Greenhouse gases are substances that scientists say contribute to climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere.
These gases are released from a number of sources in Washington. Oil refiners attract a lot of regulatory attention but the rest of the transportation sector, like cars, trucks, ships and planes, are major generators through the combustion of fuel. Producers of electricity and heat and industrial processes such as manufacturing of cement and aluminum are two other major generators.
Emissions in Washington stood at 88.4 million metric tons, or MMT, in 1990 and 93 MMT in 2013, the most recent year of available data from the Department of Ecology.
To achieve the targets in existing law, emissions must drop nearly 6 percent in the next three years, then fall to 66.1 MMT in 2035 and 44.2 MMT in 2050.
If the new recommended goals are adopted, the challenge is far greater. Emission levels would need to be 53.2 MMT and 18.4 MMT respectively.
Earlier this year, Inslee approved a new clean air rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s largest emitters of carbon pollution.
Under the rule, which is facing a challenge in the courts, businesses will be required to reduce carbon emissions by an average of 1.7 percent annually. Initially it will apply to a handful of companies — primarily natural gas distributors, petroleum fuel producers and importers and power plants — that release at least 100,000 metric tons of carbon a year. More facilities likely will be covered by the rule as the threshold is lowered over the coming decades.
The department projects that by 2035 this rule will lead to a reduction of 16 million metric tons from the 2013 levels. That won’t be enough to get Washington down to the current targets in law, let alone the tougher limits now endorsed by Inslee and the ecology department.
The governor’s efforts to reduce emissions are occurring on several fronts, Gallagher said.
His proposed budget includes a tax on carbon pollution and investments in projects to reduce emissions. And the transportation package signed in 2015 will support expansion of public transit options.
“He’s also committed to doubling the number of electric vehicles in the state vehicle fleet,” Gallagher said. “With more efficient and cleaner cars, buses and other vehicles, Washington can make more consistent progress towards our goals while reducing fuel costs and improving air quality.”
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.
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