Other Papers Say: Clean energy is state’s future

The following editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:

In the fight against climate change, Washington has led by example. State lawmakers have mandated phasing out fossil fuel emissions by 2045 and have created one of the few carbon pricing systems in North America to rein in the biggest polluters. The state’s residents are paying more at the gas pump to help reduce climate-altering greenhouse gases.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent decision to allow expansion of a natural gas pipeline through Idaho, Washington and Oregon is antithetical to those efforts. An estimated 3.47 million metric tons of additional greenhouse gases could be released each year for the next three decades, according to the attorneys general of the three West Coast states.

The fracked Canadian natural gas carried through Washington’s portion of the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline is subject to the state’s carbon pricing program, if it is delivered for use in Washington. It might also just pass through the state to other places — but that is immaterial. Carbon pollution affects us all. Climate change respects neither state borders nor international boundaries.

FERC’s decision to allow GTN to push an additional 150 million cubic feet of gas per day in the pipeline comes as the urgency to confront climate change grows. A week ago, 12 international scientists released new data on 2023’s nightmare conditions, including record-breaking heat, droughts, extreme weather and melting icecaps.

“It is a sign that we are pushing our planetary systems into dangerous instability,” the authors wrote.

The chorus of opposition to the pipeline’s expansion included the governors and U.S. senators of Washington and Oregon, and tribal nation leaders. Yet a majority of FERC’s commissioners argued the need for the gas is here today and their ruling need not delve into Washington’s efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, nor the growth of a clean energy economy here. Electric vehicle sales are surging in the state, and new incentives for heat pumps will reduce demand for natural gas as a source of heat.

“It makes no sense to shackle ourselves to a source of energy whose cost will go up in the coming decades instead of the clean energy sources whose costs are coming down dramatically,” argued Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

GTN pipeline owner TC Energy has argued natural gas, with lower carbon dioxide emissions than oil and coal, helps move the needle toward a greener future. Is that needle moving fast enough to respond to the dangers of climate change that now imperil our world?

Even with the approval of the expansion, construction cannot start without a petition for rehearing. We hope that petition is successful, considering the sacrifices Washington’s residents are making to address the gravity of climate change.