Historic melting of the Arctic ice

This summer, we saw historic melting of the Arctic. Scientists found more open water — the size of six Californias — than has been exposed on average since records have been kept.

Fortunately, we’re also seeing a historic thaw in the deep freeze that in recent years has paralyzed congressional action on global warming. This week, the House is expected to pass landmark energy-independence legislation, which is the culmination of four months of negotiations between House and Senate leaders on energy packages that each chamber passed in the summer.

The final compromise bill would repeal over $20 billion in tax subsidies for Big Oil and use these funds to promote renewable energy and develop green technologies. Some noteworthy provisions include:

¿ A requirement for clean sources of power in the nation’s electricity mix, just like one that voters passed in Washington last year with Initiative 937. Like the Evergreen state, the bill calls for 15 percent of electricity to come from renewable sources — such as wind, biomass, wave, geothermal and solar — by 2020.

¿ The first increases in vehicle efficiency standards since 1975. The legislation would require 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for new cars and trucks.

¿ A commitment to increase the use of homegrown biofuels, like canola from Snohomish County and next-generation cellulosic ethanol, to fuel our cars and trucks. The bill calls for 36 billion gallons a year of biofuels at the pump by the year 2022.

¿ Improvements in efficiency to lower energy costs. These provisions would give Americans assistance to increase efficiency of their homes, require more energy-efficient appliances and set higher efficiency standards for new commercial and federal buildings.

I helped craft this historic legislation and secured several measures that would boost marine power that is being developed in Western Washington, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that are being tested by the city of Seattle, and decoupling, which is a way to give utilities an incentive to conserve energy that Puget Sound Energy has been exploring.

The next hurdle will be winning Senate passage and getting the president to sign the bill into law. Considering the melting resistance to policies that would address global warming, I’m optimistic about prospects for this legislation.

Its enactment would be the first step towards establishing a New Apollo Project — like Kennedy’s Apollo Project in the 1960s to get humans to the moon. For the past five years, I’ve been pushing the notion of a New Apollo Project to usher in an American clean-energy revolution. I know Americans, and especially Washingtonians, have the will and can-do spirit to make this vision for a clean-energy future a reality. For us to stop the melting of the Arctic, however, House passage of historic energy legislation needs to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to federal action on climate change.

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee represents the 1st Congressional District. This fall, he co-authored a book on the clean energy revolution called “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy.”