Dive Brief:
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) and Washington State Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that they adopted rules in late December to guide implementation of the state s 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act.
Under the law, electric utilities in Washington must eliminate coal-fired power by 2025, achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and source 100% of their energy from renewable or non-carbon emitting sources by 2045.
While Washington utilities and environmental groups welcomed the overarching goals presented by the rules, disagreement about specifics remains. We have an opportunity to finally account for climate impacts in electricity planning and acquisition of new resources, Doug Howell, a senior campaign representative in Seattle for the Sierra Club s Beyond Coal Campaign, said in an email. How we deal with this in electricity will hopefully end up applying to other sectors, [which] is why it is so important to get it right.
New rules put state on path to greenhouse gas emission-free electricity by 2045
Washington state has passed another milestone on the path to 100% clean electricity. The Washington State Department of Commerce and Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) adopted administrative rules for implementation of the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA), the state law passed last year requiring an electricity supply free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
The UTC and Commerce adopted the rules late last week after 18 months of work with stakeholders who represent the interests of residential and business customers, environmental and labor advocates, low-income and disadvantaged communities, and electric utilities.
Multiple Walla Walla Valley businesses benefit from state relief grants union-bulletin.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from union-bulletin.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Latest COVID relief (12-31) a drop in bucket for WA businesses (Getty)
According to information released Thursday, 12-31 by the Washington State Department of Commerce (DOC), some $100million dollars has been granted to 7,800 small businesses via the Working Washington grant-loan program.
The $100 million is the money Gov. Inslee was speaking of a few weeks ago in early December when he and state officials authorized more aid for COVID stricken businesses. Granted, it will help some, but when you crunch the numbers it loses a lot of luster.
There were 28,000 applicants, according to DOC. The 7,800 represents 27 percent of the total applicants. To qualify, a business must have an annual revenue of $5 million or less. According to Business News Daily in 2019, there are just over
White Salmon Assisted Living Facility receives grant columbiagorgenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from columbiagorgenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.