OLYMPIA, Wash. — A clean fuel standard bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was passed by the State House in a 52-46 vote.
This is the third year the House has voted in support of the policy.
Now BILL1091 heads to the Senate.
According to a release from Climate Solutions, more than two-thirds of Washington voters support a statewide clean fuel standard.
“We owe it to future generations to protect the climate, improve our air quality, and create jobs in the biofuels industry,” said State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Seattle), the bill’s prime sponsor, in a release. “Let this be the year to say we took action, and along the way we created new jobs - good jobs in our farms and forests. Along the way we reduced air contaminants that harm human health, particularly in communities near highways and roadways.”
According to the bill, rapid innovations in low carbon transportation technologies are on the brink of “widespread commercial deployment.” And with that knowledge, states like Oregon and California have already implemented carbon fuel standards similar to what is in the bill.
The bill goes on to say in part: “After enacting their programs, neither state has experienced disruptions to fuel markets or significant impacts to the costs of transportation fuels, and both states have experienced biofuel sector growth and have successfully sited large biofuel projects that had originally been planned for Washington.”
“Our constituents will be better off when we have fewer extreme weather events driven by climate change, caused by our excessive use of fossil fuels for energy,” Fitzgibbon recently said.
Climate Solutions said the clean fuel standard will cut air pollution, requiring cleaner transportation fuels to power vehicles. It also invests in communities most affected by the pollutions.
“Transportation pollution is Washington State’s largest source of air pollution linked to asthma, lung cancer, and other respiratory diseases.”
The organization went on to say that requiring cleaner fuels and electricity for transportation is necessary to meet the state’s updated carbon emissions reduction targets.
Cox Media Group
