Editorial: Path toward clean fuels and transportation funding
It’s not exactly “unstoppable force meets immovable object,” but for the last year attempts to adopt a lower-carbon fuel standard — rules that would work to cut carbon emissions from the state’s transportation sector, our largest producer of greenhouse gases — have come up against efforts to pass a major package of transportation projects.
But a recent proposal from more than 30 House Democrats might offer a path to achieve both.
Last year and this year, the state House has passed House Bill 1110, which would adopt a clean fuel standard similar to what is now in place in California, Oregon and British Columbia. It would require a reduction in greenhouse gases from gas and diesel fuels, 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2028 and 20 percent by 2035. The program would establish a trading system where deficits for carbon-intensive fossile fuels could be offset by a range of less carbon-intensive fuels such as ethanol, bio-diesel, even used cooking oil that can be blended into fuels; hydrogen for fuel cells; and the promotion of electric vehicles and development of the roadside charging infrastructure to power them.
Last year, however, the legislation failed to advance to the Senate floor. This year it’s moved as far as the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology, where its scheduled for an executive hearing today that could move it along to the Senate Transportation Committee, where Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, is chairman.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-path-toward-clean-fuels-and-transportation-funding/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=04c1f150d5-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-04c1f150d5-228635337
