Washington
A climate cash spending spree is about to get underway in Washington state – New Hampshire Bulletin
More than a year before Democrats in Congress approved a massive climate law last year, Washington state enacted the nation’s second cap-and-trade program that will provide billions of dollars for carbon reduction and environmental justice projects.
The funding is something climate activists have been seeking for years – if not decades – and state leaders and national experts say the state and federal efforts are largely complementary. But the unprecedented sums could also test the state’s capacity to administer the slew of new and newly flush programs.
“Can we use all this money? There’s so much money now,” said Becky Kelley, a climate policy adviser to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat. “The answer is yes. There are a whole lot of new resources, but we can put all of them and more to use.”
The Washington law, enacted in May 2021, created a market for carbon emissions from the state’s largest polluters. Through what the state calls its cap-and-invest program, it holds four auctions a year, where companies regulated under the program can buy allowances for carbon emissions. The state then uses the money from those sales for several climate and environmental justice initiatives.
The first quarterly auction for carbon emission allowances brought in $300 million for the state. Lawmakers projected the fund would provide more than $2 billion over the next two years. The next auction is scheduled for May 31.
The federal climate law, which President Joe Biden signed last summer, could bring in an additional $18 billion for the state by the end of the decade, Kelley said, citing an analysis from Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonpartisan group that advocates for transitioning away from fossil fuels.
The federal climate law, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act despite analyses it would have a negligible impact on inflation, includes dozens of grant programs available to states, including the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and a $5 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program.
Easy compatibility
In Washington, and other states that had been more aggressive on climate policy and spending before the unprecedented federal funding became a reality, the federal influx is easily compatible with existing state-level programs, said Casey Katims, the executive director of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 24 governors who have committed to certain climate goals.
“A lot of these funds can be blended and braided and stacked to strengthen the work across each of the different programs,” Katims said. “Our states are leading on efforts to bring all of these resources to bear to decarbonize our economy across sectors.”
Joshua Basseches, a public policy and environmental studies professor at Tulane University who focuses on state-level climate policy, said the federal law could only build on state climate efforts.
“It’s hard to imagine a state adopting a policy that could undermine the Inflation Reduction Act,” he said.
Carrot and sticks
The bulk of the federal funding, about $260 billion, is in tax credits to help businesses and consumers buy electric vehicles, make their homes and buildings more energy efficient and take other steps to decarbonize.
That works well with Washington’s market-based system, which imposes a cost on carbon emissions, said former state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, a Seattle Democrat who was a lead sponsor of the law.
The state program is meant to alter the cost-benefit analysis for businesses regulated by the law that may be considering taking steps toward reducing their carbon output.
If the state program is a proverbial stick that makes carbon emissions costlier, the federal law, with its bevy of tax credits, is “a fully carrot-oriented policy” that makes decarbonizing cheaper, Carlyle said in an interview.
“It builds on our state policy framework,” Carlyle said of the federal climate law. “You could not have a better nexus of value between the state and the federal climate policy direction now.”
Rather than pay for allowances to emit carbon, regulated companies may decide instead to bear the cost of electrifying their vehicle fleet, switching to solar power, purchasing a new boiler system or taking other measures, Carlyle said. The federal tax credits reduce those costs.
“If you’re a company that is subject to the cap-and-invest program, you have to buy these allowances, which puts a cost on you,” Basseches said. “You have to pay a penalty for polluting. Whereas the Inflation Reduction Act creates these enormous incentives.”
The funding available through the federal law also amplifies state efforts, Kelley said.
In Washington, the state is projecting it will receive $85 million from the federal law and plans to spend $75 million from its cap-and-invest program on rebates to retrofit homes to be more energy efficient.
“So in combination, we reach more people,” Kelley said. “If it was only the federal dollars, you get $85 million worth. When you add [state funding], you nearly double that.”
Capacity to do all the work
But applying for billions in federal grants, determining what those funds can be used for and then making specific funding decisions takes a lot of work for state agencies.
In Washington, those demands come at a time when state officials will already be stretching to implement the state’s climate funds.
“That’s a good question to be asking,” Basseches said. “Do states, and does Washington, have the resources it needs – and it really comes down to the state budget and the size of the agencies, how many staff are in these agencies? Does it have the capacity to do both?”
Basseches said he expected Washington state, which has a longtime focus on climate, would be better equipped than most.
But state officials there said administrative capacity would still be a challenge.
“There is a capacity limit, in terms of delivery of programs on the part of state agencies,” Washington House Transportation Committee Chairman Jake Fey, a Democrat, said. “It’s just a lot to ask of them. And of course, the Legislature, we’re already always urgent about seeing the money gets spent, put into action, so the capacity issue is real.”
Agency directors have complained that other agencies have “poached” workers from each other, Fey said.
The state should consider private sector contractors to help set up programs and get money flowing, he said.
“I think that is a tremendous challenge,” Kelley said about the state’s capacity to start up different programs and wisely prioritize funding.
State officials are still determining what their capacity needs are, she added.
The federal spending law does include some planning grants and other resources to help states make the best use of federal dollars, Katims said.
Climate Alliance governors are aware of the issue, he added.
“States understand that we need to be investing in strengthening capacity to be able to maximize these laws,” Katims said. “There’s a recognition that we need to coordinate across levels of government to deepen those relationships.”
Republican Nick Begich ousted incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) on Wednesday, a victory two weeks after Election Day that will help the GOP pad its narrow House majority.
The Associated Press called the race for Begich shortly after 9 p.m. EST, with 95% of the vote counted. Begich received 48.4% to Peltola’s 46.4% at the time the race was called. Independent John Wayne Howe and Democrat Eric Hafner received 3.9% and 1%, respectively.
After two unsuccessful bids for the seat, Alaska’s ranked choice voting system yielded a result in Begich’s favor. Under the voting method, voters rank candidates in order of preference rather than choosing a single candidate. If no candidate receives 50% in the first round, votes are reallocated as candidates with the fewest first-choice votes are eliminated.
Ranked choice voting last cycle split the vote between Begich and former Gov. Sarah Palin. That, combined with Peltola’s appeal to independents and conservative voters, allowed the now-ousted congresswoman to win both the special and general 2022 elections.
Begich previously celebrated his election win on Nov. 16, the day Decision Desk HQ projected he would win. The Associated Press took four more days to call the race, which was one of the narrowest in the country. Begich comes from a long line of politicians — his grandfather represented Alaska in the House and his uncle, Mark, was a Senator for Alaska.
“The ranked choice voting tabulation has been completed and has confirmed our win beyond any residual doubt. I am truly honored to have earned your trust and support,” Begich said in a statement Wednesday night.
“Alaska’s potential is unmatched, but much work remains for Alaskans to fully realize that potential. I am committed to fighting for our jobs and economy, protecting our unique way of life, and ensuring that our voices are heard loud and clear in Washington.”
Peltola conceded in a statement saying, “Working for Alaska as a member of our federal delegation has been the honor of my life.”
“The path ahead will not be built by one person or three people working for all of Alaska but by all Alaskans working together to build a future that works for all of us,” she said. Alaska’s congressional delegation has three members.
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“Nick, I’m rooting for you,” she said. “Please don’t forget when D.C. people keep telling you that you are one of three. You are actually one of more than seven hundred thousand Alaskans who are ready to fight for our state, myself included.”
Begich will reassume the long line of Republicans in the House representing Alaska, which Peltola interrupted with her two-year term.
The convoy featured a mix of the typical black Chevys and Fords plus the lone electric vehicle. Presidents have long traveled via motorcade but typically use uniform, bulletproof vehicles for the president’s safety. Cybertrucks aren’t completely bulletproof but will protect from lighter gunfire. This inclusion of a Cybertruck was a nod to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who welcomed Trump to the launch site.
Musk has been tapped by Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The Tesla CEO endorsed Trump shortly after the first assassination attempt against the president-elect and started a pro-Trump super PAC. Before the launch, the two were most recently together at UFC 309 on Saturday.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on whether the Cybertruck will be among the presidential vehicles used once Trump is sworn back into office.
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During the third quarter, the Cybertruck was the No. 3 most popular EV sold. It followed Tesla’s other two models, Y and 3, respectively. Still, Tesla is just shy of 50% of the total EV sales in the United States.
Influencer Adin Ross presented Trump with a Cybertruck of his own, with a stainless steel frame featuring a photo of the moment after a bullet grazed the former president’s ear. Despite Musk’s nomination, Trump has been public with his opposition to any sort of EV mandate.
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge said Monday that the Washington-based Olympus Spa’s female-only policy is akin to a “whites-only” policy.
Olympus Spa, a Christian Korean-run operation, is currently arguing in court that its mandate limiting patrons to “biological females” is protected by constitutional rights. The legal counsel of the spa appeared before a three-member panel of the Ninth Circuit on Monday due to the state’s Human Rights Commission accusing the business of discrimination in 2020.
The spa was accused of discrimination for denying services to a transgender woman who had not undergone sex-reassignment surgery, conservative radio host Jason Rantz reports.
Judge M. Margaret McKeowna said on Monday that the Washington-based Olympus Spa’s female-only policy is akin to a “whites-only” policy. (iStock)
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Judge M. Margaret McKeowna, a Bill Clinton appointee, slammed the female-only admissions policy.
“If you have a law that says ‘White applicants only,’ this is ‘biological women entrance only.’ It seems to me they’re quite parallel there,” McKeown said.
“And you can’t have ‘White people only’ come into my restaurant, and then you say, ‘Well, no, we have a religious, spiritual nature to our restaurant, and when you get there, we serve you special food.’ This seems quite different.”
According to Rantz’s report that cited court documents, the spa restricts transgender women except for those who have “gone through post-operative sex confirmation surgery.”
Furthermore, Olympus Spa’s rule maintains the policy is “essential for the safety, legal protection, and well-being of our customers.”
Olympus Spa, a Christian Korean-run operation, is currently arguing in court that its mandate limiting patrons to “biological females” is protected by constitutional rights. (Google Maps (Screenshot))
The Christian-run service provides a Korean body scrub service called seshin that requires nudity. The owners maintain religious convictions that only married men and women can be unclothed in the same vicinity as each other. Their policy bars biological males from entering the facility. However, according to its website, “biological women are welcome” as well as those with “post-operative sex or gender confirmation surgery.”
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Legal counsel for the spa operators argued in court that their nudity policy is consistent with state laws and codes.
“It is the spa’s position that the women sharing in this cultural and spiritual experience have associational and free exercise rights,” the spa’s attorney, Kevin Snider of Pacific Justice Institute, said during arguments Monday.
“It’s not really ‘biological women are welcome,’” McKeown also said on Monday, challenging Snider’s interpretation of the spa’s policy.
The state’s Human Rights Commission accused Olympus Spa of discrimination against a transgender woman in 2020. (Adobe Stock)
“It means nonbiological women are not welcome. I mean, that’s the reality.”
The remarks made in the hearing on Monday came after the state forced the spa to accept men if they identify as women.
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The spa’s counter-lawsuit against the Human Rights Commission was struck down by a Washington-state judge last year. In an attempt to uphold their female-only policy, the spa argued that their Constitutional rights were violated.
Olympus Spa has locations in Tacoma and Lynnwood.
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