Climate Change

AWC believes that climate change will be a multi-year issue in which we need to be closely involved. There will be a few bills this year relating to climate change, but we expect many more bills in 2009, after the Governor's Climate Action Team (CAT) and the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) both finish their work. The CAT is expected to produce a report in February and the WCI is expected to produce a report in August.

You can track their activities by going to the Department of Ecology website and click on climate change at www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange. They also have a two page fact sheet on a cap & trade program, and have all past reports and minutes of meetings, plus contact information. It is in your best interest to get to know this issue, as we will be talking about it and weighing in on various proposals to address climate change impacts this session and for years to come.

The Governor has requested major climate change legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create clean energy jobs. SB 6516/HB 2815 has the following major purposes:

Begin a process to ensure the emission reduction goals established by the Governor’s Executive Order 07-02 are achieved;
Direct the state to continue to develop a regional process to design a multisector, market- based system for regulating green house gas emissions (i.e. cap and trade system);
Authorize a reporting system to monitor greenhouse gas emissions;
Establish a process for maintaining a comprehensive inventory of green house gas emissions to track the state’s progress in achieving its greenhouse gas emission reductions; and
Create a "green collar" job training account to train and transition workers to clean energy jobs.

The Senate version of the bill will be heard on Tuesday, January 22 in the Water Energy and Telecommunications Committee at 10 am, while the House version of the bill will be heard on Wednesday January 23, in the House Ecology and Parks Committee at 3:30 pm.

Pole Attachments (HB 2533)

After a half-dozen meetings over the interim on pole attachment fees and many hours of discussion about attachment fee standards and conflicts, Rep. John McCoy (D-Tulalip) has sponsored a bill that affects all municipal electric utilities who own utility poles. The bill would set requirements that rates must meet certain criteria such as "just and reasonable," defines a process for requesting to attach, and sets an appeal process that gives the WA Utilities and Transportation Commission authority to determine whether rates are just and reasonable or unjust and unreasonable.

Publicly-owned utilities have never been regulated by the WUTC, and do not support this proposal. A hearing is scheduled in the House Technology Energy and Communications Committee on Friday, January 18.

Internet Access (HB 2521, HB 2559)

Two bills were heard this week in the House Technology, Energy & Telecommunications Committee (TEC) regarding internet access and availability. HB 2521 is a mapping bill that would require the WA Utilities and Transportation Commission to map all telecommunications infrastructure and radio frequency bandwidth owned, licensed or controlled by public agencies in the state.

AWC met with the prime sponsor and expressed concern that if the intent is to eventually make excess infrastructure available to the public, cities would be very concerned about this proposal due to safety, security and priority reasons. In addition, we expressed concern that the mapping project only calls for data collection of public infrastructure. To make sure the mapping results were comprehensive and complete, mapping requirements should apply to all telecommunications systems or none at all. The prime sponsor, Rep. Zach Hudgins (D-Tukwila), listened to the city concerns and agreed to look at alternatives that would address these problems.

HB 2559 is a much larger initiative than the mapping bill. It would follow the Connect Kentucky model of creating regional technology planning teams and partnerships to plan for improved technology use across multiple community sectors. Local governments would be invited to participate on these teams with the goal of improving the availability of internet access and use, technology literacy, and computer ownership. There appeared to be a lot of support for this bill at the hearing and it seems this bill has some support behind it.

AWC did not weigh in on this bill, however the Association has always supported the idea that by increasing the availability of internet access, communities will grow and prosper. Cities and members of the WA Telecommunications Officers and Administrators (WATOA) are taking a closer look at this proposal.

Annual Utility Conservation Targets (HB 2556)

Pursuant to Initiative 937, approved by the voters on November 7, 2006, current statute states that utilities that serve more than 25,000 customers in the state of Washington shall use eligible renewable resources or acquire equivalent renewable energy credits or a combination of both, to meet the following annual targets:

At least 3% of its load by January 1, 2012, and each year thereafter;
At least 9% of its load by January 1, 2016, and each year thereafter; and
At least 15% of its load by January 1, 2020, and each year after.

This proposal adds an additional conservation target of at least 25% of its load by January 1, 2035 and every year thereafter.

[ previous article ] [ return to top ] [ next article ]