Panel backs climate-change report

OLYMPIA — A task force created by Gov. Christine Gregoire approved an interim report Friday that makes a dozen recommendations on responding to climate change in the state.

The 80-page report has some suggestions that are reflected in a bill requested by Gregoire, including requiring major sources of greenhouse gases to measure and report their emissions.

Gregoire praised the state's current efforts to cut emissions, as well as other initiatives the state has begun to help combat global warming.

"That, my friends, is what one little state can do. Lead the nation," she said Friday, speaking to the members of the Climate Advisory Team at a meeting in downtown Olympia.

The work of the task force has built on a law that passed last year. That underlying measure set targets to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020; to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2035; and to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 — or 70 percent below what is currently predicted for 2050.

The bill Gregoire has requested this year also requires the state to design a regional cap and trade market for carbon emissions by December, and it would create a goal of 25,000 "green collar" jobs in the state, both ideas also recommended by the task force.

The report also recommends increasing the level of renewable and alternative energy and promoting development that would encourage travel by transit, walking and bicycling

"We all share the same goal," Gregoire said. "We want to have a better Washington state for the future generations."

Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and other gases, essentially trap energy from the sun, which warms the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere. Many scientists believe human activity that increases those gases is contributing to global warming.

Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, submitted a minority report that criticized the main report, writing that it is "fatally flawed due to its politically motivated reliance on scientific conclusions that do not represent a consensus in the scientific community."

The state's efforts are worthwhile, even if there are those who dispute global warming, Gregoire said.

"If it's not real, what's wrong with making our world a more sustainable world?" Gregoire asked. "What's wrong with cleaning it up and weaning ourselves away from foreign oil? I've gotten past the science here. We're way past that. We're just doing the right thing."

The governor's request bill is one of more than three dozen climate-related bills being considered this year.

The task force has held eight meetings over the past year, including in Spokane, Seattle and Olympia. Its final report is due Feb. 7, and Ecology Director Jay Manning, task force co-chairman, said the work would continue throughout the year on the recommendations to develop specific details and suggested actions.

"We have a long way to go," he said. "A lot of the hard stuff is yet to come."