Page 73 - Climate Commitment Act News Today

Last week, Ecology launched its efforts to develop the program and regulations needed to implement the Climate Commitment Act.

On May 17, 2021, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the Climate Commitment Act. The legislation creates a market-based, economy-wide cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas...

Anger lingers among tribal leaders in Washington after a surprise veto from Gov. Jay Inslee last month. As he signed the cap and trade Climate Commitment

It doesn’t take a numbers whiz to know our tax system is regressive. The absence of a state income tax disproportionately burdens Washington residents with lower incomes. Local lawmakers have tried to mitigate wealth inequality for years by levying investments instead of salaries, a more politically fraught financial realm. But it took until now for them to finally make the state’s revenue department a little fairer.  Starting on January 1, 2022, Wa...

Building electrification and climate risk mitigation go mainstream. By RIC COCHRANE Cochrane Mandatory building energy performance is now Washington state law, and many building owners may be surprised by the stringency of compliance requirements. Perhaps most surprising to many in the real estate industry, however, is that Washington’s first-in-the-nation law is really not so innovative when compared with changes driven by the private sector. Specifically, global capital markets are now fa...

[ao-author: Emily Guillaume] Last week, Washington became the latest state to address environmental justice (EJ) through legislation by adopting the Climate Commitment Act into law. The HEAL Act, which is the more comprehensive of the two passed laws, was based on recommendations of a state-funded environmental task force issued in fall of 2020 and seeks to remedy the effects of past disparate treatment of vulnerable communities. The Climate Commitment Act is a more targeted law that establis...

The Washington governor and climate darling vetoed a measure requiring tribal consent for projects on sacred sites. It was a striking betrayal.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is facing backlash from tribes, national tribal leaders and state legislators for approving the Climate Commitment Act, while vetoing a tribal civil rights portion that would have protected sacred Native American sites and required tribal consultations.

SPRs Doug Nadvornick reports. Spokane’s Catalyst Building at the south end of the University District received a visit Tuesday from an eager and interested state official, Washington Governor Jay Inslee. The building is known for its main building material, cross-laminated timber, and its energy efficiency. Jay Inslee was once a presidential candidate whose main issue was climate change. So when he came to Spokane and toured a building and neighborhood touted for so-called “smart energy” ...

My grandmother would store wads of cash in her box springs because, as a child of the Great Depression, she couldn’t trust the banks. I see my children now worried about being indoors without masks. My six-year old isn’t able to feel fully comfortable eating inside a restaurant, even one with open-air ventilation, social distancing, and reduced occupancy. I suspect she’s not alone. The traumas we experience together can linger with us longer than we think. COVID isn’t going away. It’s...