Gov. Gregoire Puts Carbon Dioxide On Notice

Boom! Governor Gregoire comes right out of the gate at the new legislative session with a new bill laying "the groundwork for concrete limits on greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2012." And, in just four short (or long, depending on how you look at it) years, the bill "would give the state Department of Ecology the authority to regulate those emissions," reports the P-I.

The main thing is that "big polluters" in Washington State would be required to track their annual carbon dioxide releases, and provide a yearly emissions report. To support the move to cleaner industry, the bill also sets up a job-training fund aimed at helping workers get ready for jobs in renewable energy.

This CO2-sniffing supports Washington's membership in the Western Climate Initiative (Arizona, British Columbia, California, Manitoba, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington), which plans to institute a cap-and-trade system for controlling emissions. Because the goal is an overall limit on emissions, individual CO2 polluters can trade their permitted release amounts among themselves.

The P-I headline promises "fast action," but when we read the article we also came across this line: "Last year, the governor set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020." Ah, 1990. That was the year we emitted no CO2, wasn't it. Or the year we really cut it back by...no? Wonder what makes 1990 special then? Because it will have been 30 years ago when 2020 rolls around?

Still, the governor will have her hands full when it comes to the court of public opinion. At the P-I's Soundoff, checkyourrealty argues with Bertrand Russell-like clarity:

Total BS. The Gov is a looser, follows whatever California does. Humans have no effect on the weather, either making it worse or making it better. Its called Nature.