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, Washington state leaders seek energy
By Hunter T. George
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — As California’s en
ergy crisis worsens, Washington
state leaders are busy patting them
selves on the back for resisting the
urge to follow the Golden State’s
lead and restructure the electricity
market.
But Washington shares the west
ern power grid with California,
which means the Evergreen State
hasn’t totally escaped the high-volt
age mess.
As the 2001 legislative session
begins, businesses are curtailing op
erations and senior citizens and
others with limited incomes are
struggling to pay electric and gas
bills that are shooting skyward.
Fearing the crisis could drag
Washington’s economy down, Gov.
Gary Locke, lawmakers and special
interest groups are exploring ways
to entice utilities and corporations
to build more power plants while
encouraging more energy conserva
tion.
They generally agree on the
sources of the problem and the need
for a comprehensive solution. Any
doubt about the urgency of the mat
ter was dispatched Wednesday
when the governor declared during
his inaugural address that he won’t
let legislators go home until they
take steps to stabilize the energy
market.
“We only have so much energy,
and we need to treat it as a precious
resource,” Locke said, calling the
situation one of the top four issues
of the session.
But political differences already
are threatening to short-circuit the
effort. Leading Democrats are pro
posing ideas that rely on govern
ment intervention, while a key Re
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publican leader prefers a free-mar
ket approach.
Experts have been aware of the
risk of an energy crisis for some
time, but most consumers didn’t
notice until the state moved to the
brink of power outages and the gov
ernor ordered state agencies to con
serve electricity.
But even the experts didn’t ex
pect the situation to get so bad so
quickly.
A primary concern is the lack of
an adequate supply. Simply put, the
number of power plants remained
constant while the state experi
enced rapid growth. Experts say the
state needs more power, and soon.
Republicans and Democrats have
a number of proposals to jump-start
the development of new power
sources, including tax breaks for
utilities or private developers that
want to build power plants and reg
ulations aimed at shifting the focus
from natural-gas-fueled plants to
such environmentally friendly
sources as wind and solar.
Tax breaks will be hotly debated.
Leading Democrats say they
won’t back taxpayer-funded incen
tives for private developers without
guarantees that the electricity
would remain in Washington, in
stead of being sold to a higher bid
der in California. That was partly
why Locke vetoed a bill last year
that would have granted a $20 mil
lion break to the developers of the
$400 million Sumas 2 plant near the
Canadian border in Whatcom
County.
“We’re looking for solutions that
help Washington citizens first and
California citizens last,” said Rep.
Erik Poulsen, a Seattle Democrat
and co-chairman of the House ener
gy committee.
Poulsen’s Republican counter
part, Co-Chairman Larry Crouse of
Spokane, opposes such limits.
Crouse says Washington consumers
benefit as long as the power goes
into the Western power grid.
“They’re going to build where
they can get the best bang for the
buck,” he says.
Chuck Martin agrees. A vice pres
ident of Sumas 2 developer Nation
al Energy Systems Company of
Kirkland, Martin says Oregon and
Idaho are more attractive to power
plant developers because of their
lower taxes.
But critics question the need for
tax breaks at a time when the elec
tricity market is generating huge
profits.
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this market cannot build a plant,
they shouldn’t be in this business,”
says Mark Glyde of the Northwest
Energy Coalition, an alliance of
community and environmental
groups, utilities and businesses in
four states and British Columbia
that promote conservation.
Instead of tax breaks for private
developers, Locke and Poulsen are
working on proposals that would
direct utilities to either develop a
still-to-be-determined amount of
electricity from such “renewable”
energy sources as wind and solar
power, or find ways to conserve a
similar amount of energy.
That idea also is being champi
oned by Glyde’s group, which com
plains that dramatic cutbacks in en
ergy efficiency investments by
utilities have contributed to the
power shortage. Experts estimate
the state could conserve 2,400
megawatts of electricity, enough to
power two cities the size of Seattle.
But Crouse opposes such “big
government” approaches. The gov
ernment has an obligation to offer
incentives and remove roadblocks,
not get in the way of free enterprise,
he says, pointing to the California
government’s role in the crisis.
Crouse says “green” power is the
future, but present-day issues re
quire the construction of natural
gas-fired plants.
Other proposals also are in devel
opment stages.
Locke’s policy adviser on energy,
David Danner, says the governor is
drafting bills that offer tax credits to
homeowners and businesses that
convert to solar or wind power, util
ities that enhance pollution con
trols at power plants and businesses
that build their own power genera
tors.
Crouse and Senate energy com
mittee Chairwoman Karen Fraser,
D-Lacey, are working on proposals
to streamline Washington’s lengthy
and confusing permit process for
power plants.
Leaders of both parties agree the
state needs to beef up spending on a
program that helps low-income
families make their houses more en
ergy efficient. Locke’s budget in
cludes $1 million for the program.
Puget Sound Energy plans to ask
for permission to start charging cus
tomers higher rates during peak
hours, similar to the way long-dis
tance telephone service works. The
idea has some appeal to lawmakers
because consumers presumably
would conserve more energy if they
had a financial incentive.
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