Gov. Inslee signs a slew of climate bills into law from Eastern Washington

Inslee says bills not just a moral imperative against climate change caused by human activities, but also as an economic opportunity.

By Gazette-Tribune • May 4, 2023 8:30 am
Gov. Jay Inslee, legislators, and clean energy advocates celebrate the signing of seven bills strengthening Washington’s implementation of clean energy policies. Image courtesy of Gov. Inslee’s Medium page
Gov. Jay Inslee, legislators, and clean energy advocates celebrate the signing of seven bills strengthening Washington’s implementation of clean energy policies. Image courtesy of Gov. Inslee’s Medium page

Gov. Jay Inslee, legislators, and clean energy advocates celebrate the signing of seven bills strengthening Washington’s implementation of clean energy policies. Image courtesy of Gov. Inslee’s Medium page

Gov. Jay Inslee, legislators, and clean energy advocates celebrate the signing of seven bills strengthening Washington’s implementation of clean energy policies. Image courtesy of Gov. Inslee’s Medium page

By Brett Davis | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday morning signed into law more than a half-dozen bills related to climate change and clean energy.

“The world is looking to Washington state to lead a clean energy revolution,” Inslee said at the bill signing event from Energy Northwest’s solar energy storage and training facilities in Richland. “And we are delivering.”

Inslee signed seven bills into law:

House Bill 1176 creates the Washington Climate Corps, which will expand service opportunities for young adults and veterans to connect with careers in the field of climate science and clean energy. The law also directs the state to conduct clean energy workforce planning in partnership with labor and industry.

House Bill 1181 updates the state’s Growth Management Act so that cities and counties must consider climate change in their comprehensive planning.

House Bill 1216 sets up a formal process to help identify the least controversial places to site and permit new clean energy projects.

House Bill 1236 authorizes all public transit agencies the ability to produce, use and distribute green hydrogen as part of a plant to support transitioning diesel buses to cleaner fuels.

House Bill 1416 closes a potential loophole in Washington’s 2019 landmark clean electricity law by making sure the law applies to all electricity that customers use.

Senate Bill 5165 seeks to upgrades transmission planning efforts to better facilitate implementation of clean energy infrastructure. SB 5165 doubles the timeline required for transmission planning from 10 years to 20 years.

Senate Bill 5447 provides tax incentives to encourage the production and use of sustainable aviation fuel to help Washington lower its total greenhouse gas emissions.

Inslee, whose signature issue is fighting climate change, framed his signing of these bills into law as not just a moral imperative do take action against long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns caused by human activities, but also as an economic opportunity.

“These are paychecks,” the governor said from in front of a large wall of solar panels. “And it’s not the future, it is the present. Clean energy has arrived in the state of Washington.”

Inslee continued touting Washington’s record on green energy.

“We’ve had an increase of 460% in deployed solar power in the last five years in the state of Washington,” he said. “No place in the western hemisphere is growing renewable energy as fast as the state of Washington. And every time we put in another megawatt of clean energy in the grid, we’re producing thousands of jobs across the state of Washington.”

Inslee compared Washington state’s leading role in fighting climate change by embracing clean energy to a former president’s moonshot proposed to Congress in May 1961.

“These are the first bills I’ve ever signed wearing shades,” Inslee observed just before signing the bills. “I’m doing this in honor of President John F. Kennedy, who was here in the Tri-Cities inaugurating some new high technology decades ago. And I think the spirit he envinced in saying we’re going to go and put a man on the moon in 10 years and bring him home safely is the same spirit we are evincing here today in Washington state.”

Inslee brought up President Joe Biden in some post-bill signing remarks, clarifying that he will not be running for president after his term as governor ends in 20 months. On Monday, Inslee – who made a brief run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 – announced he will not be seeking an unprecedented fourth term as governor.

“He called me yesterday, which was very gracious of him,” Inslee said of Biden. “He really cares about people, and the fact that he would take five minutes to call me and congratulate me on the great run we’ve had – he said we’ve had one of the more successful runs of any state in the last decade. He’s well aware of what we’re doing here today. He knows it’s leading the nation.”