Deep Dive: Energy and environment issues in the 2014 session
As we’ve taken a deep dive into education and jobs, we’ve seen a clear pattern emerge. The Senate, with its bipartisan coalition focused on common-sense solutions, offers up legislation to address some of the challenges we face as a state, only to see needed reforms ignored in the House of Representatives.
Unfortunately, this was a situation that played out again on the issue of energy and environmental policy.
Below is an update on just a few of the energy and environmental policies addressed in the 2014 legislative session. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this issue, as well as any new ideas about how we can help the state focus on energy and environmental policies that protect the environment, while also reducing our energy costs and encouraging economic growth. If you have questions or comments on this or any other topic, please send me an email or give my office a call. I want to hear from you!
Double paying’ for clean energy hurts consumers and cost Washington jobs
Nobody likes to pay twice for the same thing; yet here in Washington, energy consumers continually see their rates increase as they are forced to pay twice for energy efficiency upgrades as a direct result of the Energy Investment Act (EIA), passed by voters a few years back as Initiative 937.
The EIA mandates that large utilities obtain 15 percent of their electricity through renewable resources. While it fails to recognize hydropower as clean energy (one of the only states that fails to do so), it does allow utilities to count efficiency improvements to certain existing hydro projects toward the law’s green-energy mandate. These are upgrades or changes that allow more electricity to be produced from the same amount of water.
But the EIA also specifically fails to recognize any efficiency upgrades made to the federal hydro system marketed by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).
This is unfortunate as ratepayers have paid millions of dollars to help these hydro systems become more energy-efficient through incremental rate increases.
In essence, the hydro systems and the consumers engaged in a good-faith effort to make better use of what we have, but are now being punished for those efforts by having to pay twice — once on the front end, and now again through mandated compliance via the purchase of renewable energy credits or more expensive in-state power, whether they need it or not.
This “double paying” hurts all Washingtonians but is particularly painful to minority communities and the poor, who tend to pay a greater percentage of their income toward energy costs.
To address this problem, I introduced Senate Bill 6058, which would allow some incremental electricity produced by efficiency improvements to hydro projects to qualify as an eligible renewable resource. This commonsense compromise recognized the need for new investments in clean energy technologies while at the same time recognizing the work — and consumer payments — already undertaken.
Senate Bill 6058 passed the Senate on a 28-20 vote with bipartisan support, before moving to the House. Citizens for P.O.W.E.R., a coalition concerned about rising energy rates in Washington, came out in force to testify in support of the bill, as did a number of our ratepayers from the Tri-Cities. But like so many needed reforms, this important bill died in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
Our families need electricity, and they need jobs so they can afford it. SB 6058 would have helped provide both by allowing our utilities to pass any cost savings on to their customers. I will continue to fight for smarter energy policies like this one when the Legislature goes back into session in January.
 VIDEO: Citizens for P.O.W.E.R. and others testify in support of my incremental hydropower bill before House Committee
Hanford’s potential: Small nuclear reactor study set to begin, new task force approved
 The B-Reactor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
The big question driving state environmental policy is how to produce more clean energy, while not damaging our already-fragile economic recovery or hurting the poor by driving up the costs for energy and the goods and services that rely on affordable power.
One potential answer to that question is nuclear power. Being from the Tri-Cities, we already know the economic driver nuclear power generation can be for our community. It is also the state’s second largest source of clean power. Columbia Generating Station produces approximately 1,170 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to about 10 percent of Washington's power and 4 percent of all the electric power used in the Pacific Northwest.
Last year, I was able to secure a $500,000 state Department of Commerce grant for the Tri-City Development Council to fund a site analysis of Hanford as a possible location for a new federal Small Modular Reactor (SMR). If Hanford was selected, it would mean more jobs being created right here in the 8th District!
Carl Adrian, the President of TRIDEC, said the study will give stakeholders a clearer picture of the potential of nuclear power to support the local Tri-Cities economy and create jobs, in addition to providing clean energy for our state.
He’s right. All evidence points to nuclear power not only being a job creator and economic driver, but also the only realistic way to really go green. Some want to replace coal and gas-fired plants with wind, solar and other renewables – but they refuse to consider affordable, carbon-free nuclear energy. This is unrealistic.
Nuclear power doesn't burn fossil fuels and it doesn't release carbon emissions into the atmosphere – making it a plus for the environment. It is also more reliable than other forms of renewable energy. Unlike wind, solar and even hydropower, nuclear energy is not dependent on weather conditions and is easily integrated into the power grid. Nuclear plants produce electricity 24-hours a day, seven days a week – making them good for consumers.
There’s a lot of fear and hype around the issue of nuclear power, but we can’t allow fear and misinformation to drive our decisions. If it’s true that 100 years from now, Washington can have an unlimited supply of clean, affordable, safe energy from nuclear power, we have an obligation to find out.
That's why I was happy to be one of the sponsors of Senate Bill 5991, which would have created a task force to study how Washington can expand use of nuclear power. The task force will consist of eight legislators, four from the Senate and four from the House, with equal representation from both Democrats and Republicans. Under the bill the task force would meet four times this year, and report findings to the Legislature by Dec. 1.
The Senate approved the bill 34-15, but the House failed to bring the measure up for a vote. Fortunately, I was able to convince my colleagues to fight for the proposal, and it was included in the supplemental budget. Better still; the new language requires two of the meetings to be held in Richland!
I hope to be appointed to the task force and I look forward to working with members from both chambers and both parties on this important issue.
In the News: Fish-consumption number may be hard to swallow
Seattle Times editorial board weighs in on how “an arbitrary decision on a state ‘fish consumption’ estimate could have dire consequences for the state economy and anyone who flushes a toilet.”
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SOMETIME soon, Gov. Jay Inslee will decide the biggest, most-fraught-with-peril question of his term: How much fish do Washingtonians eat?
It is a silly-sounding question that — if answered indelicately — means big trouble for Washington industry, for cities and counties, and maybe for citizens, too, once
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they get their sewer bills. …In 2011, Oregon adopted the highest fish-consumption estimate of any state in the country. Business and local governments say they cannot possibly comply with the rules that resulted — no technology can get water that clean. Environmental groups threaten lawsuits that could shut down municipal sewage plants; bigger problems are around the corner. Same thing could happen here.
…Washington shouldn’t allow itself to be bullied into a headlong rush down the Oregon Trail.
Click here to read the full article.
2014 is an election year in the Washington State Senate. Due to special restrictions tied to election-year activities, this will be the last Bridges to a Better Government update I will be permitted to send.
In the next few weeks, you can expect to see my 2014 legislative session review newsletter arrive at your home. Along with my 8th District seatmates from the House, I will update you on the budget, the status of jobs bills and measures of particular interest to those of us in the Tri-Cities.
Please keep in mind that even though these updates will be put on hold for a while, I am still working hard for you. As your state senator, I am here to help you and to be your voice. That’s a job that doesn’t end just because I am back from Olympia.
If you have any thoughts or concerns, or if there is any way my office can be of help to you, please don’t hesitate to write, email or call.
As always, it remains my honor to serve you in the Washington State Senate.
Sincerely,
 Sharon Brown
State Senator
8th District
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