Washington moves ahead with key climate change work

Washington State Department of Ecology

Department of Ecology News Release - May 9, 2008

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Washington moves ahead with key climate change work

OLYMPIA – Washington’s Climate Action Team meets next week in Seattle to focus on actions to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases in the state.

Meanwhile, Washington continues to help lead the work of the Western Climate Initiative, which is designing a market-based system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Western U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

Climate Action Team

Climate Action Team (CAT) members will meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 13, in the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, 800 Convention Place, Seattle. Several members of the state’s Climate Advisory Team (the original CAT) in 2007 will take part this year. New members also have joined the 2008 CAT, which is again led by Jay Manning, director of the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), and Juli Wilkerson, director of the Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED).

CAT members will work to turn some of the 2007 team’s most promising recommendations into policies and actions to help meet greenhouse gas emission reductions. Gov. Chris Gregoire first outlined those reductions in Executive Order 07-02 in February 2007. The 2008 Legislature codified the reductions in HB 2815, the Governor’s request legislation on climate change and green jobs.

Four Implementation Working Groups will assist the 2008 CAT:

Beyond Waste group members will work on solutions that will significantly expand source reduction, reuse, recycling and composting. They also will build on what is currently most successful by developing a plan that targets products and organic materials with the largest emissions reduction potential.
Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings group members will design actions that can lead to significant emission reductions in Washington’s built environment. Efforts will focus on direct actions, such as cutting use of fossil fuels, and indirect actions, such as reducing the use of greenhouse gas-intensive products.
Transportation group members will recommend how to achieve reductions in vehicle miles traveled, which were developed by the 2007 CAT and included in HB 2815. The transportation sector produces nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions in Washington.
State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) group members will work to clarify how state and local agencies address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions during environmental reviews. The group will help clarify SEPA rules and prepare important guidance information.

Two other work groups will focus on how forestry and agriculture can participate in a market-based emissions-reduction system such as the cap-and-trade program that the Western Climate Initiative is designing. Ecology and the Washington Department of Natural Resources co-lead the forestry sector group. Washington State University and the Washington Department of Agriculture co-lead the agriculture sector group.

CTED will lead a group that will focus on creating new “green jobs,” expanding existing job opportunities, and considering how the Growth Management Act should address climate change.

2008 CAT members

Members: Jay Manning, Ecology director (co-chair); Juli Wilkerson, CTED director (co-chair); Ash Awad, McKinstry Company; Rob Barnard, Microsoft; Claire Breidenich, Western Power Trading Forum; Rod Brown, Washington Environmental Council; Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland; Tom Eckmann, Absolute Business Services; Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale; Preston Feight, PACCAR; Jake Fey, City of Tacoma; K.C. Golden, Climate Solutions; Bob Gore, Washington Department of Agriculture; Paula Hammond, director, Washington Department of Transportation; Bryan Imai, Washington Auto Dealers Association; Sara Kendall, Weyerhaeuser; Bill Kidd, BP; Mike Kreidler, Washington Insurance Commissioner; Chad Kruger, Washington State University; Roberta Lewandowski, Futurewise; Jim Lopez, King County; Bonnie Mager, Spokane County Commissioner; Dennis McLerran, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency; Bill Messenger, Washington Labor Council; Dave Moore, Boeing; Carol Moser, Washington State Transportation Commission; Steve Nicholas, City of Seattle; Larry Paulson, Port of Vancouver; Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver; Aaron Reardon, Snohomish County; Steve Reynolds, Puget Sound Energy; Rich Riazzi, Chelan County Public Utility District No. 1; Bishop Greg Rickel, Episcopal Diocese of Olympia; Doug Sutherland, Washington Public Lands Commissioner; Terry Uhling, J.R. Simplot Co.; Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines; Stefan Vogt, Alcoa; Tayloe Washburn, Foster Pepper; Terry Williams, Tulalip Tribe; Lon Wyrick, Thurston Regional Planning Council; Mayor Mary Verner, City of Spokane

See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/2008CAT_members.htm.

Western Climate Initiative

In February 2007, the governors of Washington, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon formed the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) to develop regional strategies to address climate change. Since then, Utah, Montana and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec have joined. Other U.S. and Mexican states and Canadian provinces are observing WCI’s work.

WCI partners work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region, including designing a cap-and-trade system. The public can review and comment on initial draft design recommendations from WCI’s five subcommittees (allocations, offsets, electricity, scope and reporting). WCI expects to issue an integrated document later this month.

A regional stakeholder workshop will be held in Salt Lake City on May 21. See http://www.westernclimateinitiative.org/ .

The Climate Registry

In addition to sitting on The Climate Registry’s board of directors, Ecology is now a founding reporter of the non-profit organization. The Climate Registry was established to provide a way to measure and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions in a common manner. Founding reporters voluntarily commit to measure, independently verify, and publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions annually through The Climate Registry.

The Washington Department of Transportation also is a founding reporter. Washington’s other founding reporters include the City of Seattle; the Alcoa aluminum plant, Ferndale; ShoreBank Pacific, Ilwaco; Clark Public Utilities, Vancouver; Sustainable Business Consulting, Seattle; GHG Accountants LLC, Bothell; Public Utility District No. 1 of Clallam County, Port Angeles; Parametrix Inc., Bellevue; Clark County; the Port of Seattle; and Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging Inc., Longview.

Washington is among 39 U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces, three Native American tribes, six Mexican states, and the District of Columbia that make up the board of directors. See http://www.theclimateregistry.org/ .

Follow climate change efforts online

Track climate work and efforts at the Ecology/CTED climate change website, http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/index.htm .

Also on the climate change website:

Sign up for the climate change listserv to receive updated news and information, including WCI, CAT, The Climate Registry and the implementation of HB 2815.
Find details on the Climate Action Team’s charge and its membership as well as the various Implementation Working Groups and their members.
Learn more about what the state is doing to address climate change on the regional, national and international levels.
Learn how you can comment on climate change efforts.
Find out how you can act individually to help curb climate change.
Read climate change legislation approved by the Governor and the Legislature.

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Media contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; 360-584-5744 (cell); spre461@ecy.wa.gov

Ecology/CTED climate change website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/index.htm