Washington State Passes Cutting-edge Policies to Reduce Climate Pollution

Developing geothermal energy: This geothermal bill amends the state’s “obligation to serve” for gas utilities to allow them to sell thermal energy instead of gas to customers. Thermal energy networks use a network of ground-source heat pumps to heat water, which runs through pipes underground. Buildings in the network can be heated with more efficiency across a wider variety of weather. The Washington budget supports the bill with a $25 million grant to fund gas utilities’ pilot programs. Washington State follows Colorado and New York in allowing utilities to provide networked geothermal heat to customers.

Linking Washington’s carbon market: A new law makes essential changes to align the Climate Commitment Act with California and Quebec’s linked carbon allowance market. The state’s Department of Ecology has recommended linking the state market with larger carbon markets, which will take several years of negotiations and policy adjustments. Allowance auctions in Washington State have been generating funding for clean energy investments, including funding for heat pumps for low-income households, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, diesel and truck pollution reduction, and tribal projects.

Washington’s lawmakers also passed significant improvements to protect people and the environment.

Protecting children from lead in cookware: The reducing lead in cookware bill addresses a crisis in lead poisoning that was identified by the King County public health partnership, which used funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to test cookware used by local resettled Afghan refugees. The study published in Nature identified that aluminum cookware is a significant source of lead exposure, especially when manufactured in the developing world. The Seattle Afghan Health Initiative brought the legislation forward. The bill passed the legislature with unanimous votes, making Washington the first state to ban the sale of lead-containing cookware.

Buying clean materials: HB 1282 will drive reductions in embodied carbon in state-funded construction projects. This bill aligns Washington’s practices with the Federal-State Buy Clean Partnership and the Pacific Coast Collaborative principles on low-carbon construction. The bill requires state contractors to report on large construction projects, including suppliers’ declarations on environmental, health, and working conditions for covered products, such as concrete, steel, and engineered wood. The bill also creates a work group to recommend policies to increase production and use of low-carbon construction materials. 

Saying farewell to mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs: HB 1185 will make Washington the eighth state to ban the sale of mercury-containing light bulbs for general use. Consumers will wind up saving money because LED bulbs are much more efficient and longer lasting. During the fluorescent bulb phaseout, the state will continue operating its product stewardship program, which makes it free for consumers to safely dispose of these bulbs through their local hazardous waste programs. 

Moving toward protecting pollinators: SB 5972 will end certain lawn and garden uses of the toxic neonic pesticides that kill bees and other wildlife, contaminate water supplies, and threaten human health. Washington follows similar action taken in several states, including a California law passed earlier this year. While SB 5972 does not go as far in restricting neonic use as the recent laws in Nevada, New Jersey, or the milestone New York Bird and Bees Protection Act, it hopefully marks a good first step toward protecting Washington’s bees, ecosystems, and people from destructive neonic pollution.

This blog provides general information, not legal advice. If you need legal help, please consult a lawyer in your state.