Climate Action This Week: 
  • Petroleum Underground Storage Tanks
  • Climate Change in the Growth Management Act
  • Trust Lands Transfer program
  • Residential Housing Regulations
  • Extending CETA’s requirements
  • Promoting Transit-Oriented Development
If you're viewing this on a smartphone, make sure you're in your browser, and when calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative or Senator’s district. And, unfortunately, SurveyMonkey does not support copy and paste on mobile devices.

Question Title

* Your Information

Pick as many or as few actions as you’d like. Remember to scroll down and click the "DONE" button when you finish.

Thank you for taking action with the 350 WA Civic Action Team!
This first action should take about 5 - 10 minutes.
📜 1. Creating a state financial assurance program for petroleum underground storage tanks - HB 1175

This bill directs the Pollution Liability Insurance Agency (PLIA) to establish and administer a state financial assurance program for owners and operators of petroleum underground storage tanks. It prescribes criteria for participation in the program; establishes payment limits for remedial actions and for compensating third parties under the program. The bill authorizes PLIA to take specified actions to implement the program, including conducting remedial actions and adopting rules. The bill will also change the rate of the Petroleum Products Tax from .15 percent to .30 percent.

We oppose this bill. Gas stations and their cleanup is a big problem that requires a well thought-through solution. Instead, HB 1175 offers all of the gas stations in the state up to $2 million in liability insurance to pay for their environmental liabilities, regardless of whether or not they (or an oil company) were at fault for the problem. For more information see this article from Coltura and this Seattle Times article.

We are following the lead of Coltura on this bill.

Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology Wednesday, March 22nd, 8:00 AM.

✏️ Please sign in here, select “Con” and leave a comment before Thursday, March 23, 8:00 AM.
📑 The first sentence of the written comment should be: “I oppose HB 1175.” 

Then choose 2-3 additional sentences from the talking points below, or feel free to write your own:
  • Taxpayers should not be funding a bailout of the oil/gas station industry and enabling leaking gas stations to keep operating. I care about clean water and public health, and this bill would be bad for both.
  • Gas stations and their cleanup is a big problem that requires a well thought-through solution. Please replace this bill with one that takes a comprehensive approach to the present and future of gas stations. Such a bill should: (1) require all gas stations participating in the state insurance fund to undergo full environmental assessments and have modern underground storage tanks; (2) shut down those gas stations that have active gasoline leaks or at are high risk of leaking; (3) require that the oil industry, not the general public, pay the costs of gas station cleanups; and (4) plan for a future in which gasoline sales are declining rapidly.
  • If HB 1175 passes, the state will provide up to $2 million liability insurance for each gas station without a risk assessment and without requiring that owners modernize their aging tanks. The state will provide this insurance at only a small fraction of the cost that private insurers would require to insure similar risks. 
    In 10 years, due to the rise of electric cars and decreasing demand for gasoline, the number of gas stations is likely to be less than half of what it is now, leaving more than a thousand abandoned dirty gas stations throughout the state, with the number increasing each year.  Private insurance won’t generally insure an underground storage tank more than 20-25 years old.
  • Via HB 1175 the state agency PLIA is proposing to offer all of the gas stations in the state up to $2 million in liability insurance to pay for their environmental liabilities, regardless of whether or not they (or an oil company) were at fault for the problem. The gas stations want this bill to satisfy the $1 million insurance requirement that the federal EPA requires gas stations to have in order to operate, to make their properties more valuable, and to relieve them of financial responsibility for the mess they made. The bill changes the equation from “polluter pays” to “taxpayer pays.”
  • For years, our state has provided heavily subsidized insurance guarantees to gas stations without requiring that they replace their aging tanks or undergo a rigorous risk assessment. As a result, Washington's approximately 3,000 gas stations' underground storage tanks are the oldest and riskiest in the U.S., with an average age of more than 28 years. Many tanks more than 25 years old are either leaking or at high risk of leaking gasoline into the groundwater and soil. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/aging-gasoline-storage-tanks-in-wa-a-serious-threat-to-human-health-and-the-environment/. It costs an average of about $500,000 to clean up a contaminated gas station site.

Question Title

* Did you sign in and leave a comment for HB 1175?

All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the “DONE” button to submit your actions!
These next three actions should take about 10 minutes.
📜 2. Improving the state's response to climate change by updating the state's planning framework - HB 1181

We have included this important update to the Growth Management Act (GMA) in many of our alerts this year. We want to keep the pressure up to help it pass this year! HB 1181 will help our cities and counties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and to protect communities and natural resources from the accelerating impacts of a changing climate. Updating the GMA to provide better land use and transportation planning will result in more livable communities and reduce climate pollution at the same time.

We are following the lead of Futurewise on this bill.

Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means on Thursday, March 23, 4:00 PM

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1181 before Thursday, March 23, 3:00 PM, and select “Pro” in the position button.

Question Title

* Did you sign in for HB 1181?

📜 3. Concerning the department of natural resources land transactions, revenue distributions, and creation and management of a trust land transfer program - HB 1460

This bill would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to create a Trust Lands Transfer, to transfer underperforming public lands back to local communities and acquire new land for working forests. This bill will help protect vulnerable flora and fauna by allowing counties to replace working land occupied by protected species with productive land outside their boundaries. HB 1460 will bolster rural communities, protect Washington wildlife, and help put public lands back into public hands.

We are following the lead of the Trust Lands Transfer Revitalization Group, WA State Lands Working Group, and the Center for Responsible Forestry on this bill.

Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means on Thursday, March 23, 4:00 PM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1460 before Thursday, March 23, 3:00 PM, and select “Pro” in the position button.

Question Title

* Did you sign in for HB 1460?

📜 4. Concerning residential housing regulations - HB 1167

HB 1167 will prohibit a city from imposing any development regulations for middle housing, with certain exceptions, that are more restrictive than those for detached single-family residences. The bill also mandates that, in cities and counties planning under the Growth Management Act, housing development permits may only go through administrative design review rather than going before a design review board to determine whether it is consistent with any applicable design standards. Design Review Boards have often been a place where housing projects have been slowed down and costs have increased while projects are required to make, often very small, cosmetic, design changes.

350 WA CAT recommends this action.

Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means on Thursday, March 23, 4:00 PM.

✏️ Please sign in here to support HB 1167 before Thursday, March 23, 3:00 PM, and select “Pro” in the position button.

Question Title

* Did you sign in for HB 1167?

All done? Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and click the "DONE” button to submit your actions!
These last two actions should take about 10 - 15 minutes.
📜 5. Applying the affected market customer provisions of the Washington clean energy transformation act to nonresidential customers of consumer-owned utilities - HB 1416

The Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA)’s requirements (the greenhouse gas neutral standard and the 100 percent clean electricity standard) already apply to non-residential customers of investor-owned utilities. This bill will extend CETA to non-residential customers of consumer-owned utilities. The Department of Commerce requested this legislation because they've seen interest from large entities in seeking power outside their local utilities. This bill will close that loophole and prevent companies from side-stepping CETA’s provisions by turning to consumer-owned utilities instead of investor-owned utilities.

Scheduled for executive session in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology on Friday, March 24, 8:00 AM.

350 WA CAT recommends this action.

✏️ Please click here to send an email to committee members before Friday, March 24, 8:00 AM.

If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Chair Sen. Joe Nguyen (D-34) – (360) 786-7667 – Joe.Nguyen@leg.wa.gov
Vice Chair Sen. Liz Lovelett (D-40) – (360) 786-7678 – Liz.Lovelett@leg.wa.gov
Sen. John Lovick (D-44) – (360) 786-7686 – john.lovick@leg.wa.gov
Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-27) – (360) 786-7652 – yasmin.trudeau@leg.wa.gov
Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-41) – (360) 786-7641 – lisa.wellman@leg.wa.gov
Ranking Member: Sen. Drew MacEwen (R-35) – (360) 786-7668 – Drew.MacEwen@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative or Senator’s district!
📑 The first sentence of your call or email should be: “Please pass HB 1416.”

Then, choose one or two of the following talking points, or feel free to write your own:
  • This bill will prevent companies from side-stepping the provisions of the Clean Energy Transformation Act by turning to consumer-owned utilities instead of investor-owned utilities.
  • This bill will prevent non-residential customers from avoiding CETA’s greenhouse gas neutral standard and the 100 percent clean electricity standard.

Question Title

* Did you call or email for HB 1416?

  I called to support HB 1416 I emailed to support HB 1416
Chair Sen. Joe Nguyen (D-34)
Vice Chair Sen. Liz Lovelett (D-40)
Sen. John Lovick (D-44)
Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-27)
Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-41)
Ranking Member: Sen. Drew MacEwen (R-35)
📜 6. Promoting Transit-Oriented Development - SB 5466

SB 5466 will create flexible standards for cities to allow mid-sized apartment buildings within three-quarters of a mile of transit stops with frequent service, and larger buildings within a quarter-mile of light rail stations. The bill will also remove off-street parking requirements, streamline permitting, and incentivize affordable units through a grant program. For more information, see this Sightline Article.

We are following the lead of Homes4WA on this bill.

SB 5466 passed the Senate and had a hearing last week in the House Committee on Transport. However, an executive session was canceled.

✏️ Please click here to email the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the House Committee on Housing and ask them to schedule ESSB 5466 for an executive session and a vote.

If the above email link does not work on your device, try this. Right click on the link, select “copy email address” in the menu, then go to your email app and paste the email addresses into a new email.

✏️ On your phone, and want to call? Just click on any phone number in the list!

If you’re calling and you reach voicemail, be sure to speak slowly and clearly and say the bill numbers.

Chair Rep. Strom Peterson (D-21) – (360) 786-7950 – Strom.Peterson@leg.wa.gov
Vice Chair Rep. Emily Alvarado (D-34) – (360) 786-7978 – Emily.Alvarado@leg.wa.gov
Vice Chair Rep. Mari Leavitt (D-28) – (360) 786-7890 – Mari.Leavitt@leg.wa.gov

When calling or emailing, be sure to mention if you are in the Representative or Senator’s district!
📑 The first sentence of your call or email should be: “Please schedule ESSB 5466 for an executive session and a vote.”

Then, choose one or two of the following talking points, or feel free to write your own:
  • Removing parking requirements around public transit sites helps to reduce costs, increase the number of units that can be built, and encourages the use of public transit. Please RESIST any amendments that would remove the parking requirement prohibition.  
  • Transit-oriented development focuses on increasing housing density around public transit infrastructure. Given the major investments in public transit that Washington made last year through the transportation package, this is the ideal time to pair building these new transit investments with new housing. This will help reduce both our transportation and our residential housing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • To incentivize affordable housing development, this bill offers an automatic 50 percent increase in allowed FAR for housing affordable to people earning 60 percent of area median income (AMI).
  • To protect communities from displacement pressures that could be exacerbated by FAR allowances, this bill would require that cities preemptively take the actions defined by a 2021 bill that established new anti-displacement standards for local planning.

Question Title

* Did you call or email for SB 5466?

  I called to support SB 5466 I emailed to support SB 5466
Chair Rep. Strom Peterson (D-21)
Vice Chair Rep. Emily Alvarado (D-34)
Vice Chair Rep. Mari Leavitt (D-28)

Question Title

* That’s it!  Thank you so much for doing this advocacy work with us! Please let us know if you had any issues.

-- The 350 WA Civic Action Team

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