I just read the Seattle Times’ June 2 story about our state’s role in forming the United States Climate Alliance in response to the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord (“Gov. Inslee calls Trump’s climate-pact withdrawal ‘pathetic’ — plus other Northwest reaction to U.S. abandoning Paris accord”).
While we should all be proud to live in a state that’s leading on this issue, it’s important that our actions reflect this commitment. Right now there are two massive, fossil-fuel export projects that are under permit review. One is the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal in Vancouver, which, if approved, would be the largest in North America. The other is a refinery being proposed in Kalama, which would convert fracked natural gas to methanol for export to Asia and would be the largest such refinery anywhere in the world.
If Gov. Inslee were to come out against these projects, it would send a strong signal that he’s serious about leading the charge to move us towards a cleaner, sustainable future.
