This Washington
Two Top Environmental Bills Introduced This Week
Environmental advocates are going for it in Olympia this week. Two top priorities—cleaning up stormwater runoff and phasing TransAlta's Centralia power plant plant off coal—are on the legislative docket this week.
Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-34, W. Seattle, Burien, Vashon) and Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-3, Spokane) are introducing the stormwater bill today. The bill puts a one percent fee on hazardous materials (such as oil, pesticides, and fertilizers), generating an estimated $100 million a year. The money—which is not allowed to go into the general fund—will go directly toward stormwater cleanup.
Unlike taxes, which go directly into the general fund, revenues from a fee must be related to the fee—a fee on liquor licenses, for example, could go to liquor store overhead and alcoholism education. In this instance, sponsor Rep. Ormsby's says, "there's a nexus between where the fee is assessed and what it's going to resolve, the cause of the pollution."
Environmentalists are calling the bill the Clean Water Jobs Act, emphasizing the economic aspect of the bill: The money will go into a grant program funding local cleanup projects, i.e. jobs.
"It's going to be difficult given the [economic] environment," Ormsby says, "but this is our number one unaddressed cause of pollution. Just because things are tough doesn't mean we can take a pass and say it's not a problem."
The other big environmental bill, which hasn't been introduced yet, but is cued up for this week, is a Rep. Marko Liias (D-21, Edmonds) bill that says TransAlta's Centralia coal plant must phase out coal by 2015. (The governor has been negotiating with TransAlta for several years and has been looking at a 2025 coal-free date.)
Environmentalists are also spinning the TransAlta bill as a jobs bill. The bill would make TransAlta pay a $1 per megawatt hour fee into a fund (expected to generate $9 million a year), that would pay for jobs to cleanup the decommissioned site.
About 300 people work at the plant in Centralia.
Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-34, W. Seattle, Burien, Vashon) and Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-3, Spokane) are introducing the stormwater bill today. The bill puts a one percent fee on hazardous materials (such as oil, pesticides, and fertilizers), generating an estimated $100 million a year. The money—which is not allowed to go into the general fund—will go directly toward stormwater cleanup.
Unlike taxes, which go directly into the general fund, revenues from a fee must be related to the fee—a fee on liquor licenses, for example, could go to liquor store overhead and alcoholism education. In this instance, sponsor Rep. Ormsby's says, "there's a nexus between where the fee is assessed and what it's going to resolve, the cause of the pollution."
Environmentalists are calling the bill the Clean Water Jobs Act, emphasizing the economic aspect of the bill: The money will go into a grant program funding local cleanup projects, i.e. jobs.
"It's going to be difficult given the [economic] environment," Ormsby says, "but this is our number one unaddressed cause of pollution. Just because things are tough doesn't mean we can take a pass and say it's not a problem."
The other big environmental bill, which hasn't been introduced yet, but is cued up for this week, is a Rep. Marko Liias (D-21, Edmonds) bill that says TransAlta's Centralia coal plant must phase out coal by 2015. (The governor has been negotiating with TransAlta for several years and has been looking at a 2025 coal-free date.)
Environmentalists are also spinning the TransAlta bill as a jobs bill. The bill would make TransAlta pay a $1 per megawatt hour fee into a fund (expected to generate $9 million a year), that would pay for jobs to cleanup the decommissioned site.
About 300 people work at the plant in Centralia.
