Climate Action This Week: 
  • Preventing the Permanent Loss of Washington’s Forests
  • Organic Materials Management
  • Closing a Loophole in the Growth Management Act
  • Energy for All
  • Green Amendment to Washington’s Constitution
  • Community Solar
  • Business Emissions Reductions
  • Modernizing the energy facility site evaluation council to meet the state's clean energy goals
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* Your information

Here are our first four actions. We think they will take 15-20 minutes.

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* 📜 1. Planning for the prevention of permanent loss of forests in Washington state - SB 5633

This bill is problematic. Announced by the Department of Natural Resources as “Keep Washington Evergreen,” this bill would direct the agency to develop plans to conserve, reforest and restore three million acres of forest land.

Like the House version we featured on Monday, because the Senate version focuses on the preservation of monoculture working forest land rather than setting aside legacy forest land for long-term carbon sequestration and ecological benefits, this bill is deeply flawed.

We are following the lead of the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance on this bill.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks on Thursday, January 20, 1:30 PM. 

✏️ Follow this link to provide a written comment before Friday, January 21, 1:30 PM and select “Other” in the position button.

The first sentence of the written comment should be: I have strong concerns about SB 5633.

📑 Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • Working forests are a form of deforestation that involves building roads, clearing trees, burning slash piles, and poisoning the land with pesticides.
  • “Managed replanting” removes Tribal access to traditional plant gathering and hunting and destroys biodiversity, resulting in a monoculture of thirsty, sickly trees.
  • Working forests damage local communities with boom-and-bust logging cycles, unhealthy working conditions, and fewer jobs resulting from increased mechanization. 
  • The legacy forests of the Pacific Northwest have the best potential for carbon sequestration. It is time to abandon the false science used by the timber industry to justify shorter logging cycles and plantation forests. 

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* 📜 2. Concerning organic materials management - HB 1799

This bill establishes goals to reduce organics disposed in landfills by 75% by 2030 and to recover for human consumption by 2025 at least 20% of edible food disposed (both goals are relative to 2015). To get there, it requires separate organics collection in certain jurisdictions; reduces legal liability risks of donating edible food; sets up new funding and financial incentives to increase the use of compost; amends labeling standards to reduce plastic contamination of compost; and more. 

Landfills are a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas generated when organic wastes such as food scraps, grass clippings and paper anaerobically decompose. Keeping organics out of landfills and getting them into productive uses is key to decreasing methane! 

We are following the lead of Zero Waste Washington on this bill.

Scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Environment & Energy on Thursday, January 20, 1:30 PM. 

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1799 before Thursday, January 20, 12:30 PM and select “Pro” in the position button.

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* 📜 3. Concerning the effective date of certain actions taken under the growth management act - SB 5042

This bill would close the GMA’s ‘sprawl loophole’ to protect farmland, forests, and critical habitats from unnecessary and harmful development and sprawl.

We are following the lead of Futurewise on this bill.

This bill is currently stuck in the Senate Rules Committee.

✏️ Please click here to comment on this bill and ask your Senator to vote Yes. When you “verify” your district, you can select which of your elected leaders to communicate to.  For this senate bill, select your Senator. 

The first sentence of the written comment should be: I strongly support SB 5042.

📑 Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • There is a loophole in the GMA that undermines the Act's intent by allowing counties to subvert the Growth Management Hearing Board appeals process. The result is new developments that gobble up farmlands, forests, and critical habitats, and that put a financial strain on the jurisdictions that need to provide adequate facilities and services.
  • To make sure the GMA is working as designed to prevent sprawl and protect forests and farms, we need to pass SB 5042. As long as this loophole persists, there will be people who exploit it for irresponsible development on lands that we need to protect.
  • Please vote YES on SB 5042 to close the GMA’s sprawl loophole and ensure we are not losing any more valuable farmland and forests to unnecessary sprawl and development.

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* 📜 4. Maintaining residential electricity and heating service for low-income households and households with people with disabilities - HB 1490

Also known as “Energy For All,” this bill aims to secure access to affordable energy in WA for those most vulnerable to having their energy shut off. The intent of the bill is to cap energy costs at 3% of income for low-income households. 

We are following the lead of Front and Centered and Puget Sound Sage on this bill. 

The bill is waiting for a public hearing in the House Environment & Energy Committee. 

Please call or email the Chair and Vice Chair of the House Environment & Energy Committee and ask them to ensure this bill is scheduled for a hearing, and passed out of committee. The script is below. 

✏️ Click here to send an email to members of the committee.

If the above link did not work, please address your emails to:

Chair Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (564) 888-2362 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Vice Chair Rep. Davina Duerr (D-01) – (425) 318-1303 – Davina.Duerr@leg.wa.gov

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill number. And be sure to let them know if you are a constituent of their district!

📑 Script: I’m writing to request that HB 1490 is given a public hearing and is scheduled for an executive session. 

Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • The bill includes energy bill payment plan options with bills capped at 3% of household income.
  • Low-income households and households with people with disabilities are eligible.
  • Covers annual home energy usage up to 15 megawatt hours or 800 therms (whichever is greater).

  I called I emailed
Rep. Fitzgibbon
Rep. Duerr
All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the orange “DONE” button to submit your actions!
If you have a little more time, these next two actions will take about 10 minutes.

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* 📜 5. Adding a new section to the Washington state Constitution regarding the conservation and protection of the state's natural resources - HJR 4209 and SJR 8210
We included this bill on Monday and asked that you contact your elected leaders about this bill. Today we’re asking that you contact the Chairs of two important committees. 

These bills, unofficially known as the “Green Amendment,” would amend the state Constitution to provide that the people of the state have the right to a clean and healthy environment, that the state shall serve as trustee of the natural resources of the state, and that the state shall equitably protect these rights for all people.

We’re concerned that these bills have not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

We’re following the lead of 350 WA and Green Amendments for the Generations on these bills.

Please call or email the Chair of the House Environment and Energy Committee and Chair of the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Committee and ask that this Joint Resolution be given a hearing. 

✏️ Click here to send an email to members of the committee.

If the above link did not work, please address your emails to:

Chair Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (564) 888-2362 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov
Sen. Kevin Van De Wege (D-24) – (360) 786-7646 – Kevin.Vandewege@leg.wa.gov

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill number. And be sure to let them know if you are a constituent of their district!

📑 Script: I’m writing to request that the Joint Resolution HJR 4209 and SJR 8210 be given a public hearing. The people of the state, including future generations, have the right to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air, healthy ecosystems, and a stable climate. The best way of protecting these rights is to embody them in our constitution.

  I called I emailed
Rep. Fitzgibbon
Sen. Van De Wege

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* 📜 6. Community Solar - HB 1814

This bill intends to expand equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. It provides a new one-time credit for start-up costs and virtual net metering for community solar projects with low-income and low income service provider subscribers.

We are following the lead of Olympia Community Solar on this bill. 

Scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Environment & Energy on Friday, January 21, 10:00 AM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1814 before Friday, January 21, 9:00 AM and select “Pro” in the position button.

All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the orange “DONE” button to submit your actions!
Have another 10 minutes? These two are for you!

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* 📜 7. Business Emissions Reductions - HB 1682

Emissions-Intensive, Trade-Exposed (“EITE”) businesses are core industries, primarily manufacturing, that release large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and face significant national or global competition for their products. The 2021 Climate Commitment Act (CCA) required the legislature to define the schedule and pace of EITEs’ emissions reductions (“compliance pathway”) for achieving their proportionate share of the state's emissions reductions from 2035 through 2050. 

In Tuesday’s hearing, affected businesses pushed hard for smaller reductions in free allowances (e.g. lower cost of continued emissions) after 2035.

✏️ Please call or email the Chair of the House Environment & Energy Committee and ask that he not weaken the compliance pathway. 

Chair Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34) – (564) 888-2362 – Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill number. And be sure to let them know if you are a constituent of their district!

📑 Script: I’m calling to request that Rep. Fitzgibbon not weaken the 6% year-to-year emission reduction pathway in HB 1682, Business Emission Reductions.

Then choose 1-2 additional sentences from the options below or feel free to write your own.
  • In Tuesday’s hearing the affected businesses pushed hard to be given more modest reductions. That is not appropriate! It’s time for all affected businesses to commit to their fair share of emission reductions.
  • Be careful not to accept false solutions when considering amendments to the “best available technology” exemption -- polluting industries need to work on reducing their emissions during the compliance periods before 2035. They should not be given incentives to continue business-as-usual.
  • Between now and 2035 even our most emission-intensive industries should be able to adapt their energy processes.

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* 📜 8. Modernizing the energy facility site evaluation council to meet the state's clean energy goals - HB 1812

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, created in the early 1970s, performs environmental reviews, sites new facilities and manages a permit process for energy projects. Today, a successful transition to a clean energy economy requires siting new facilities to build that future in Washington, and an efficient, effective, transparent decision-making process. This bill proposes improvements to the council and its processes, such as adding project types such as clean energy product manufacturing, clean energy storage, and renewable/green hydrogen production. The legislation also adds Tribal government representatives to the council and Tribal consultation requirements to the process, and makes the council a standalone agency with dedicated state funding.

We’re following the lead of Climate Solutions on this bill. 

Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Environment & Energy on Friday, January 21, 10:00 AM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1812 before Friday, January 21, 9:00 AM and select “Pro” in the position button.

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* Thanks for hanging in there with us - that was a lot of work! How did that go?

-- The 350 WA Civic Action Team

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