States can lead way to a clean-energy future

By Chris Gregoire
Special to The Times

RECENTLY, the Obama administration took a historic step toward curbing America's dependence on oil and reducing our nation's contribution to global warming by adopting the clean-cars program, which will require automakers to make cleaner vehicles that go farther on a gallon of gas. The clean-cars program is a great idea: It will cut pollution, save consumers money at the pump, and save Washingtonians 219 million gallons of gasoline per year by 2016.

This idea didn't come from the halls of Congress — it came from Washington and the 13 other states that adopted similar standards in recent years. And it serves as just one example of how Washington and other states have consistently led the way in developing new strategies to create jobs, protect the environment and build the clean-energy economy.

Despite our leadership and innovation, some industry lobbyists in the other Washington want to limit states' ability to act independently to protect our economy and natural resources. That's a bad idea, and it sets a dangerous precedent.

Here's why. In Washington state, we've demonstrated the workability of dozens of new solutions to our long-standing energy problems. We've adopted cutting-edge programs to increase the amount of energy we get from renewable sources, make our homes and businesses more energy-efficient, set targets for reductions in global-warming pollution, and encourage a shift toward cleaner modes of transportation.

Our programs and strategies are not only having a positive impact on the environment, but on our economy as well.

A recent study by the Washington State Employment and Security Division, for example, found there were nearly 100,000 "green jobs" in Washington in 2009. With Washington's business climate ripe to add to its 400 clean-energy-technology companies already located here, that number is expected to grow.

In fact, earlier this month, a joint venture between BMW and SGL Group announced it has chosen Moses Lake in Grant County — where unemployment is at 13.6 percent — as the site for a new plant to manufacture lightweight carbon-fiber parts to be used in electric cars, making them lighter and more efficient.

As Washington takes steps toward a clean-energy future, we are learning from other states' examples, just as other states learn from ours. Even as members of Congress debate energy and climate policies to curb global warming, for example, there is already a successful, state-based cap-and-trade system up and running in the Northeastern United States, designed and operated by 10 states working together.

Similarly, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), of which Washington state is a founding member, and the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord (MGGA) have laid the groundwork for comprehensive reductions in harmful greenhouse gases.

So it is troubling that at a time when we need good ideas the most, special interests continue to push U.S. senators for greater pre-emption of state authority — pre-emption that would stifle innovation and potentially hold the nation back from achieving our emission-reduction and clean-energy goals. Such action would also violate the long-standing central role of states in setting environmental policy — a role that states may need to play again one day given the changing political winds that seem to consume Washington, D.C.

The time has surely come for the United States to adopt comprehensive policies to put America on course to a clean-energy future. Having testified before Congress in favor of federal action and after traveling to Copenhagen to see firsthand the precipice we are on in terms of losing our edge to other nations, I remain committed to the passage of federal energy and climate legislation this year.

But Congress would make a grave error if it were to shut down the state "laboratories of democracy" — the proven testing grounds of the next generation of effective environmental and economic policies.

If we are serious about a strong economic recovery and a healthy future, with real opportunities for all Americans, we cannot accept the status quo. As a nation, we must repower our economy with a new engine of innovation, investment and job creation. States — in a true partnership with the federal government — can do just that.

Chris Gregoire is governor of Washington. Margie Alt, executive director of Environment America, and Cara H. Dolan from Environment Washington contributed to this commentary.

Published in The Seattle Times