We must keep the WA Climate Commitment Act
This year marks 54 years of Earth Day.
It began in 1970 in response to massive air pollution, excessive consumption of leaded gas and $2.1 billion in California. After that spill,
Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin worked to organize students who were energetically protesting the Vietnam War to use that same energy to create an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution.
After Earth Day was founded, many laws and institutions that we now take for granted were created, from the Environmental Protection Agency to Superfund to international climate change compacts, such as the Paris Agreement. The emphasis of Earth Day and its supporters moved from strictly environmental impacts to addressing global warming in 1988.
In spite of these many years of attempted consciousness-raising about global warming and its impacts, our greenhouse gas emissions have not been reduced sufficiently to avert the effects of climate change. As a result, some states have begun to set new standards in motion with the hope of actually creating behavior change that will deter climate change.
In Washington State, key legislation has been passed in the last few years that will hopefully significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These bills include the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and the Fuel Standards Act which were both passed in 2021.
Between them, they provide both regulations and incentives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the CCA — implementation of which began in 2023 — is structured to raise funds that can be invested for efficiency opportunities, improve the environment in overburdened communities and tribes for health and quality of life, and correct past environmental damage.
This year, in spite of the many benefits of the CCA, Initiative 2117 was filed to repeal the act. This will be on the ballot in November.
There have been many false assertions about the CCA, including that it has been responsible for gas price increases.
There has not been a great deal of publicity about the benefits of the CCA. Already, the act has allowed the state to invest $2.1 billion in clean transportation, clean buildings, clean energy development, siting and transmission, environmental justice, agriculture, mitigation of climate change impacts and more.
These funds have come from auctioning industrial greenhouse gas allocations that are below the cap on emissions. Annually, that cap will decline, so that over a period of years, very few greenhouse gas emissions will be allowable. Meanwhile, the auctions provide benefits to the state and its communities.
On this Earth Day, please think about our climate, the increasingly detrimental impacts of continued warming, and the value of doing what we can to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. And please plan to vote no on I-2117.
Cynthia Stewart is a past president of the League of Women Voters of TacomaPierce County and currently serves on its board as well as the board of the Washington State League of Women Voters. In that capacity, she chairs the state League Lobby Team and advocates for housing, growth management, transportation and environmental issues. She is currently retired following more than 30 years as a manager in the public sector, where she often worked on environmental matters.