Washington state Democrats’ climate bill could imperil economic development

By EPN Staff

Only one Democrat in the Washington legislature joined Republicans in opposing Senate Bill 5982 to force port districts and consumer-owned utilities to comply with the 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA). 

The CETA requires the closure of coal-fired plants by 2025, all retail sales of electricity to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2030, and all electricity to be produced through renewable resources by 2045.

Before the enactment of SB 5982, the state’s 75 port districts, some of which supply energy to industrial tenants, and nonresidential electric utility customers that purchase electricity from an entity other than an electric utility or generate their own electricity, did not have to comply with CETA. 

Why it matters 

Republicans worry that SB 5982 will stifle economic development, particularly in rural areas. Rep. Mary Dye, the ranking Republican on the House Environment and Energy Committee, warned that “decarbonization is a long-term goal, but in the short term, we have a capacity crisis that could potentially derail our economy. We should be incentivizing more megawatts.”  

The North American Electric Reliability Corp recently predicted Washington could be at “high risk” of an energy shortfall by 2029 as the state increasingly relies on intermittent sources like wind and solar power at a time when demand for electricity is increasing.  

At present, 59% of Washington’s electricity net generation comes from hydroelectric, 18% from natural gas, 10% from nuclear, 10% from wind, solar, and biomass and 3% from coal.  Washington intended to shut down its last coal-fired power plant, Centralia Generating Station, per CETA requirements at the end of 2025, but the Trump Administration ordered the state to keep the plant open to maintain grid stability and reliability across the Northwest to reduce blackout risks. 

This is a worry in Washington and the nation as a whole. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Resource Adequacy Report found that demand increases coupled with plant retirements increased the risk of power outages by 100 times in 2030 across the country. 

The bigger picture

Data centers and ports want to develop their own energy supply because it can take a decade or more to get transmission lines to transport power from existing utilities. 

Democrats, who hold a majority in both chambers, created a workgroup on data centers in December that recommended the bill. They do not want ports to offer natural gas power generation to industrial customers or data centers to build their own natural gas power generation outside of the CETA framework. 

While the Washington Public Ports Association was neutral on the legislation, the association noted in another recent publication that “Ports are currently facing increasing delays in aligning competitiveness and regional economic growth with energy demand and utility needs. In some cases, there is not enough energy supply to support the expansion of current businesses or recruiting for new opportunities.”

Kennewick Sen. Matt Boehnke, another ranking Republican on the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, told the Capital Press SB 5892 will be “another dagger into the heart of what we can build and manufacture.”