Laws to Mitigate Ocean Acidification Pass in State Senate

From Washington Democratic Committee

On March 13, Senator Kevin Ranker and environmental leaders passed key legislation off the floor of the Senate aimed at climate disruption and reducing ocean acidification.

Substitute Senate Bill 5802 represents the first major climate legislation of its kind this session and would lead to recommendations to achieve the State’s greenhouse gas emission limits.

“SSB 5802 has the potential to improve the state’s energy independence and competitiveness, and to grow many sectors of the state’s economy creating hundreds of jobs, including solar energy products we export around the world and use heavily in my district,” said Ranker.

In 2007 the Legislature adopted statewide emissions limits, beginning with reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The potential costs of climate change to Washington families, businesses and communities are projected to reach nearly $10 billion per year by 2020. SSB 5802 will authorize objective bipartisan workgroup of legislators and the governor to meet and review the range of ideas that this report provides, and work hard to develop a set of recommendations for the 2014 session of the Legislature to come up with a strong strategy to combat this growing problem.

Washington state is particularly vulnerable to climate disruption in general and a warming climate in particular. After considerable debate in the final hours before cut-off, SB 5603 , a bill intended to establish the Washington coastal marine advisory council was also passed off the floor of the Senate today. There are a number of risks associated with climate change, including a rising sea level which affect shoreline uses and increased ocean acidification – an issue Ranker has been addressing at the state and federal levels in his capacity as a key contributor to former Gov. Gregoire’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification. SB 5603 as amended on the Senate floor creates an advisory council whose focus will be on implementing the panel’s work and delivering recommendations to the governor and appropriate legislative committees for strengthened actions to respond to the harm from increasing ocean water acidity.

“Ocean acidification will harm our state’s waters, harm our shellfish, and is already doing great harm to our shellfish industry – and the hundreds of associated jobs,” Ranker said. “I’m proud that Washington is the national leader in confronting the problem.

“While we have much to be proud of in our state, such as our ‘low carbon’ hydro-based electrical system and the increase in new clean energy generation, we still will need additional strategies to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reductions we have set out for the state. Our ecosystems, from our Puget Sound to our Eastern Washington forests, are already under stress, but the Legislature can alleviate this stress if we act now.”