2023 legislative review
Energy and Environment
Peter Godlewski : Energy , Environment and Water Policy
From a policy perspective , this was an unusual and in some ways a dream year in AWB ’ s employer advocacy on energy and environmental issues . The reason : The bills in this issue area were really focused on specific issues . They weren ’ t the broad , sweeping pieces of legislation with widespread impact that have been the focus of previous legislative sessions . Instead , this year was more of a clean-up session on those big policy-setting environmental bills from the last five years .
So while there were certainly bills that AWB had issues with and concerns about , we were happy to see at least some attempt by the Legislature to look at what they need to fix in the programs they ’ ve already passed .
AWB was able to work with legislators to Peter Godlewski is AWB ’ s lead on advocacy for energy , environmental and water issues . produce wins for employers , especially when it came to finding ways to meet the bill sponsor ’ s original goal while alleviating major impacts that would have hit employers .
An energy siting proposal introduced by Gov . Jay Inslee ( HB 1216 / SB 5165 ) had lofty aspirations but would not have accomplished them as intended . AWB worked with labor , environmental and business stakeholders to craft revised energy facility and power grid siting bills that , while not going far enough in some ways , will nevertheless help our state begin to establish a framework for further permit reform bills .
A bill to cut down light pollution from wind turbines ( HB 1173 ) was reworked in a way that keeps airplanes safe and addresses the concerns of neighbors unhappy with bright red lights blinking through the night .
In other ways , AWB spent the session trying to manage bad bills . A proposal to reduce waste , the WRAP Act ( HB 1131 / SB 5154 ) was a 140-page behemoth that was overly complicated and bureaucratic . While AWB supports reducing waste , this bill took a punitive approach that added costs and bureaucracy without increasing recycling rates . The bill did not pass .
AWB was overall fine with the bills that passed and those that died this year . The largest frustration lay with the things the Legislature didn ’ t do . The biggest example of that was the issue of exempt fuels under the Climate Commitment Act ( CCA ).
When the Legislature passed the CCA , or cap-and-invest , lawmakers specifically exempted agricultural fuel use on farms and on the road for transportation of goods for processing — think milk being trucked to a processing facility or apples being moved to ports . A similar exemption has long been in place for gas and diesel taxes — that ’ s why off-road gas is dyed . However , unlike the fuel tax , there is no easy and practical way for farmers to tap into their legislative exemption under the CCA .
As a result , farmers are paying rate as the rest of the state for fuel and have no way to pass on the costs . The cost of carbon credits , which have consistently sold at well above expected price points in the first two auctions , continues to add significant costs for fuel — about 50 cents per gallon in just the first few months of the year . There is no “ tax-free ” fuel available under the CCA ’ s cap-and-invest program .
18 association of washington business