Passage of the Clear Power Transformation Act in 2019 was a historic occasion and a testomony to enhancing the well being of the planet and communities proper right here in Washington. Private and non-private sector stakeholders have made herculean efforts to maneuver this formidable power transition ahead and obtain a carbon-free financial system for future generations of Washingtonians.
The elements are in place for achievement, however one obvious downside has flown beneath the radar in latest media protection and deserves way more public consideration.
The problem is easy — the one option to cease burning carbon is to construct new clear power initiatives at an unprecedented scale and scope in each nook of Washington. The problem is the work of an unknown however critically necessary company, the Washington Power Facility Website Analysis Council, presently laboring beneath the complexity and rising checklist of initiatives coming to its door for overview. If the council can not speed up its critiques and make clear council deliberation procedures, we are going to transfer backward in assembly Clear Power Transition Act necessities, discourage funding and good jobs, and improve ratepayer prices.
The analysis council should embrace its function as a catalyst for change to a clear power financial system. EFSEC should assess potential impacts whereas discovering balanced, science-based options that maximize renewable power advantages whereas safeguarding our surroundings. Put merely, EFSEC has failed to take action.
Sadly, for the Horse Heaven Clear Power Middle — the most important renewable mission in state historical past and actively lined by The Seattle Occasions — EFSEC is making poor choices that can jeopardize mission viability and set harmful precedent for added clear power initiatives that our future relies upon upon.
For instance, EFSEC is setting a “new coverage” with out in depth coverage steering or peer overview for ferruginous hawks. I’m significantly shocked by the council’s mitigation that requires a two-mile buffer round hawk nests, with many inactive for years, and banning exercise year-round, slightly than utilizing finest accessible science for a workable resolution. The Environmental Influence Assertion for the mission doesn’t name for this degree of safety, as no data-based want exists.
No state (together with ours) or federal regulation mandates such protections. This determination alone eliminates over half the mission’s wind generators and units a horrible precedent for a lot of others. EFSEC ought to reevaluate this determination and institute protections extra according to science, the EIS, and that mirror different state and federal regulation that efficiently protects this species with out dramatic buffers. The council has additionally relied on an outdated wildlife motion mannequin, resulting in elimination of 5,200 sq. miles for renewable power growth.
As a former Congress member who championed the Endangered Species Act and different conservation causes, I perceive the distinctive steadiness that have to be struck to guard our fish and wildlife whereas enabling accountable growth. I realized early the significance of following finest accessible science for making choices on mission mitigation measures whereas responsibly growing our pure assets.
When science is ignored and the necessity to strike an applicable steadiness is just not met, the outcomes will be devastating, and we see that now in EFSEC’s dealing with of the Horse Heaven mission. My considerations are usually not nearly this mission, however the influence on our skill to satisfy Clear Power Transformation Act necessities and the chilling sign to different clear power investments in Washington.
Past EFSEC’s flawed course of for this very important mission, I’m alarmed by the council’s seeming inaction towards the approaching influence of local weather change to our world and state. The council’s choices present little consideration that we should shortly construct a outstanding quantity of renewable initiatives to satisfy our power wants and scale back our dependence on carbon-based sources.
I respectfully name upon EFSEC to offer sturdy management, rethink a lot of its preliminary choices and use the environmental influence assertion and science to develop a viable Horse Heaven mission. Time is just not our good friend in our battle with local weather change.
