OLYMPIA – Looking to go green, the Washington House and Senate are considering a bill requested by the governor that would identify possible clean energy sites across the state and create a council to evaluate clean energy projects with the goal of transitioning off fossil fuels.

“Eastern Washington is blessed by incredible things the Creator has given, which is water, beautiful topsoil, great growing conditions; but the Creator also gave them the two biggest resources of energy which is the sun and the wind,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee told the Herald.

Part of the bill, House Bill 1216, brings up the possibility of a solar siting pilot project in the Columbia Basin of Eastern and Central Washington.

The bill would also create an Interagency Clean Energy Siting Coordinating Council, co-chaired by the Department of Commerce and the Department of Ecology, to evaluate and identify possible sites for clean energy projects. The council would bring into consideration the impact on the environment and local communities as well as other interested parties.

“We have available solar – usually the sun shines a lot (in Central and Eastern Washington) especially,” Representative Dan Newhouse (R–Washington) said. “A lot of wind is being developed. We have hydroelectric sources of energy which we truly are blessed to have. Other areas of the country, I think, are somewhat envious of us.”

Newhouse also said Washington has another form of clean energy, nuclear energy, which he thinks will be part of the future of transitioning off fossil fuels.

“I think there’s a really bright future there,” Newhouse said. “I think recognizing a clean energy future has to include (nuclear).”

He also said the state is a leader in new technologies in nuclear energy.

The bill states that efficient and effective siting and permitting of new clean energy projects throughout Washington are necessary to fight climate change and achieve the state's greenhouse gas emission limits, improve air quality and grow family-wage clean energy jobs. If it passes, the bill would also work to support clean energy businesses that provide economic benefits across the state and make available secure domestic sources of the clean energy products needed to transition off fossil fuels.

Newhouse said Washington is sitting in an advantageous spot for clean and renewable energy and that there is a lot of support for it nationwide. His reservations about clean and renewable energy are not using the alternative forms of energy but rather the speed and cost of the transition to them from fossil fuels.

“I just don’t think you can flip the switch that quickly and we need to have affordable energy,” Newhouse said. “Renewable is great but it has to be affordable so people can drive to work - And everything in our economy, literally the wheels of our economy turn by energy and if that is more expensive to provide energy here than any other country, that puts us at a competitive disadvantage.”

HB 1216 was first introduced on Jan. 10 and was referred to the Environment and Energy Committee. The substitute bill passed committee on Feb. 9 before being referred to Appropriations.

It is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 and then executive session at 9 a.m. on Feb. 23.

The companion bill, Senate Bill 5380, was first introduced on Jan. 16 and referred to the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee. The substitute bill passed the committee on Feb. 10 and was referred to the Ways and Means Committee.

Columbia Basin residents have criticized moves in Olympia toward green energy that rely heavily on developing sites in Eastern Washington rather than Western Washington.

“What I would say is first off, there’s no effort to site these facilities in order to sort of victimize people in Eastern Washington. I wouldn’t allow that because I’m a Central Washington guy and we raised our kids in Selah for 20 years so I’m kind of still there emotionally,” Inslee said. “What it is, is that happens to be where the Creator put the sunshine. It happens to be where the Creator put the wind and you kind of have to do it where sun and the wind is and so it’s sort of a physical reality that exists.”

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at [email protected].