Comments on meeting Executive Order Goals (TWGs)

Share your comments on Washington's efforts to address climate change.
Comments Archive

December 2007

Citizen comment on landfills - (pdf of written comment from Sandra Triplett)
Climate Change is an issue that requires true leadership
Climate Education Network Feedback
Climate change legislation possibilities
Climate Change comment period severely inadequate
Draft State Policy Recommendations on Climate Change-Comments due Jan 10
Citizen comment on CAT
RCI-3 Comments
CAT general comment

Wa. State Climate Initiative Comments:
There are times when State government merely manages and administrates. There are times that call for true leadership. Climate Change is an issue that requires true leadership. Many other people around the world are doing great things in the climate change agenda. There’s no point in inventing new wheels, so we need to learn as much as we can about what they are doing and emulate those things that make sense for us.

Washington is one of the leading states in this climate change issue. We are being watched. This is an opportunity for us to forge new leadership in state and tribal governments, and develop innovative programs that others can learn from and emulate. The successful programs we come up with here will likely be multiplied many times, so it’s worth putting some extra effort into making them good.

When you’re charting unknown territory, you are bound to make mistakes and solutions will be incomplete. We are not going to solve this issue in one year. But we need to get started on solutions. We cannot stop here. This is a good start, but we will need to continue this discussion for many years to come. Here are some changes that we can deal with immediately:

Washington State should join the Chicago Climate Exchange
Washington State should implement a carbon tax: replace the sales tax with a carbon tax. Do it in stages. Take 2% off the sales tax each year for 4 years, and replace it with whatever level of carbon tax covers that. It could be levied at the wholesale level for fossil fuels. You only need to collect from a few people, so it’s relatively simple. Again, the non-climate effect is almost as good as the climate effect. Why are we taxing purchases? It actually makes a lot more sense to tax fuel rather than everything we buy. Much simpler, too.
Washington State needs climate change education. We need to think long term. We need to start thinking about how to carry on climate change actions for the next 10, 20, 30 years. We need to educate high school and college students on how to work with the technical, planning, and political aspects of this. We need to foster attitude changes that will help bring about the necessary lifestyle changes in the next generations.

Thanks,
Lisa Reimer, A Private Citizen

Climate Education Network Feedback
Climate Education Managers,
Alternate vehicles should be encouraged through Tax Incentives to include: PHEV's, NEV,s Commercially converted PHEV,s Home Conversions to Pure BEV's, Battery Powered vehicles of all kinds, such as boats, bicycles, scooters, and motor cycles.

It should not be limited to commercial PHEV's Only!

Thanks,

--Ryan Lashlee
DeskMenu.com, CEO
Laguna Beach, CA

Climate change legislation possibilities
I would highly encourage you to watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" ASAP.

Is Washington State willing to stand up to the oil and car companies on the availability of Zero-Emission Vehicles?

It is imperative that these vehicles should be available and encouraged. I would recommend something similar to what CA did in the nineties with their CARB legislation requiring that 10% of all vehicles offered in the state be EV's or Zero Emission.

Also, why limit the legislation to just PHEV's? That doesn't make sense to me when the technology is already available to create totally non-polluting vcehicles that are practical and affordable.

After all, the majority of of our electricity is generated through clean Hydro tevchnology; and with the increased utilization of wind and solar, and incentives in place for people to install solar and wind, I would think we could become one of the most energy efficient states in America!

Let's not drag our feet any longer!

Sincerely,

-- Jeffri D Smith
Bothell, WA

Climate Change comment period severely inadequate
Hello,
The comment period for the climate change report is entirely inadequate and ill-timed. It is unreasonable for Ecology to expect the public to provide meaningful comments on 270 p. of materials on such an important topic in just three weeks during the middle of the holiday season. Unfortunately, the agency risks being perceived as "pulling a Bush", an all-too-common practice of the current administration to release controversial rule changes, decisions or other documents on Friday afternoons before holidays or long weekends. I, for one, am a strong supporter of meaningful efforts to reduce our impacts on global climate and to respond proactively to the challenges we face in our region. I have worked on these issues to some degree in the past and feel that I could provide constructive comments, given adequate opportunity.

Please do not respond by saying that the comment period is forced by the February deadline for report completion. It was the agency's responsibility to meet that deadline, AND to receive public comment. You should have completed the draft by late November to give the public a reasonable opportunity to comment.

This is simply not the way to gain public support for such an important initiative.

Sincerely,

-- Janne Kaje
Shoreline, Washington

Draft State Policy Recommendations on Climate Change-Comments due Jan 10
Dear Messers Manning and Wilkerson,
In response to the release of two draft documents, i.e., A Comprehensive Climate Approach for Washington and Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change in Washington, I am concerned about the review and comment period timeline. Specifically, on December 21, 2007, a notice released by The Washington Departments of Ecology and Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED), invites the public to submit comments on draft recommendations for meeting the Washington Climate Change Challenge.

The deadline for submitting comments is January 10, 2008, a 20-day comment period which includes two holidays. Considering that many individuals following this process are likely to be consumed with other matters relating to these holidays, and one document is 88 pages in length, the other 94 pages, I recommend extending the comment period at least two weeks.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

-- Stephen Clifton, AICP
Community Services Director
Acting Economic Development Director
City of Edmonds, WA

Citizen comment on CAT
I am a citizen who is concerned about global warming, and my family and I do what we can to reduce our own carbon impact. I was delighted to read your document acknowledging that individual efforts aren’t enough.

The plans you outline sound effective and feasible. I appreciate your efforts, and I am anxious for the state to start implementing this surprisingly reasonable plan to help save the way of life we treasure in Washington State.

-- Carolyn Chapel
Edmonds, WA

RCI-3 Comments
At the upcoming Climate Advisory Team meeting (CAT), team members will be examining a number of the proposals made by the Technical Working Groups (TWG) that have not yet been finalized, including the Residential/Commercial/Industrial option 3 (RCI‐3).

The members of the CAT should be very skeptical of the projections and strategies included in this option. There are a number of weaknesses, including exceedingly rosy projections, recent empirical data that contradicts assumptions, a lack of firm data for the projections and a wide‐ranging scope that makes projections simply unreliable.

My comments below address particular elements of the RCI‐3 description, and the page numbers listed after each citation refer to numbers in the option description.