3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MAY 29, 2017
Carbon cap rule in Washington
faces legal clash with industry
Changes meant
to help combat
climate change
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
U.S. Geological Survey and Orange County Register
Earthquake early warning systems like ShakeAlert work because the warning message
can be transmitted almost instantaneously, whereas the shaking waves from the earth-
quake travel through the shallow layers of the Earth at speeds of one to a few kilometers
per second (0.5 to 3 miles per second). This diagram shows how such a system would
operate.
Trump’s budget cuts quake
warning system funding
Cuts could
end project
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s bud-
get proposal would cut fed-
eral funding for an earthquake
early warning system for Cal-
ifornia, Oregon and Washing-
ton state, a development that
seismology experts and some
local leaders say would be the
end of the project.
The system being developed
in conjunction with various uni-
versities is intended at provid-
ing critical seconds of warning
when an earthquake has started
and potentially dangerous shak-
ing is imminent, allowing time
for people to take cover and to
slow or halt such things as crit-
ical industrial processes and
transportation systems.
A version of the ShakeAlert
system has been undergoing
testing but still needs to have
more seismic sensors installed
in Northern California, Ore-
gon and Washington state.
The proposed funding cuts
for the next fiscal year start-
ing Oct. 1 would come from
the budget of the U.S. Geo-
logical Survey, a bureau of
the U.S. Interior Department.
Veteran seismologist Lucy
Jones, who recently retired
from the U.S. Geological Sur-
vey after years of providing
earthquake information to the
public, said she was deeply
disappointed.
“Eliminating the $10 mil-
lion (per) year that the govern-
ment has been spending would
stop the program and waste the
$23 million that has already
been invested,” she said in a
statement. “The talented sci-
entists and technicians that
are working on the project
now will go to other jobs, so
their experience and expertise
would be lost.”
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff,
a Los Angeles-area Demo-
crat, said in a Facebook post
that the system should not
be stopped just as it is being
expanded after years of work
to educate the public and Con-
gress on its benefits.
“Support for the early
warning system in Congress is
sustained, growing and bipar-
tisan, and we will not accept
this attempt by the president
to cut a vital funding stream
for a program that will protect
life, property and critical infra-
structure,” Schiff wrote.
U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, a
Republican who represents an
inland Southern California dis-
trict, is chairman of the Appro-
priations Subcommittee on the
Interior and the Environment
and has supported funding of
the earthquake warning sys-
tem in the past.
In a statement he did not
mention the warning system
specifically, but noted that the
budget “proposes some reduc-
tions for agencies that fall
within the Interior Subcommit-
tee’s jurisdiction. Those agen-
cies perform important work,
so the members of our com-
mittee will be faced with mak-
ing some difficult decisions.”
In Los Angeles, Council-
man Mitch Englander called
the funding cuts “a threat to
the lives of millions of people
in California and beyond.”
Englander’s
district
includes the epicenter of the
deadly 1994 Northridge earth-
quake that caused billions of
dollars in damage to Los Ange-
les and neighboring areas.
“When it comes to earth-
quakes, seconds matter,” he
said in a statement. “A fully
deployed early warning sys-
tem would give time for eleva-
tors to shut down, hospitals to
turn on backup generators, and
people to take cover.”
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SEATTLE — Even as the
Trump administration seeks
to roll back Obama-era rules
to curb greenhouse gas emis-
sions at coal-fired power
plants, Washington state is
forging ahead with its own
rules to cap carbon pollution
from big industrial facilities.
But the state faces legal
challenges as it begins requir-
ing large polluters to gradu-
ally reduce carbon emissions
over time to combat climate
change.
Four natural gas utilities
and eight industry groups are
seeking to invalidate Wash-
ington’s so-called clean air
rule, which took effect in Jan-
uary and affects such facilities
as power plants, fuel and nat-
ural gas distributors, oil refin-
eries and manufacturers.
A Thurston County Supe-
rior Court judge is set to hear
arguments Friday on one
aspect of the case. Arguments
on the merits of the challenge
are expected later.
After failing to persuade
lawmakers to pass an ambi-
tious cap-and-trade program,
Gov. Jay Inslee directed state
regulators in 2015 to use
existing authority to limit car-
bon emissions from Wash-
ington’s largest sources. He
called climate change a threat
to the state and said the new
regulations would help Wash-
ington meet its requirements
to reduce carbon emissions.
“We’ve looked carefully
at our law, and we believe
we have the authority to do
it, and that’s the authority
we’re using,” said Stu Clark,
air quality program man-
ager with the state Ecology
Department. “That’s what the
court will sort through. We
didn’t do this lightly.”
Industry challengers
Industry groups led by the
Association of Washington
Business challenged the reg-
ulations last fall. Four inves-
tor-owned natural gas utili-
ties — Avista Corp., Cascade
Natural Gas Corp., North-
west Natural Gas Co. and
Puget Sound Energy —
also filed a separate suit.
The two cases have been
consolidated.
The petitioners say the
Ecology Department doesn’t
have the authority to create
the new carbon cap program,
among other arguments. They
also contend the agency vio-
lated several state laws when
it wrote the rules, including
not doing a thorough analysis
of the impacts.
“The rule paints a picture
that only a few are going to
be hit. And what we’re saying
is that it’s going to hit every-
body,” said Bob Battles, gen-
eral counsel for the Associa-
tion of Washington Business,
referring to effects on busi-
nesses, families and others.
Washington state is a
low-carbon leader, he said,
and the rule is unnecessary.
“We don’t think they have the
authority to do this.”
Puget Sound Energy
spokesman Grant Ringel
said the program will have
the unintended consequence
of increased costs to custom-
ers as well as increased car-
bon emissions, since the util-
ity could be forced to rely
more heavily on its coal-fired
plants.
The state’s lawyers argue
the rule should “be upheld in
its entirety.”
Three conservation groups
— Washington Environmen-
tal Council, Climate Solu-
tions and Natural Resources
Defense Council — have
intervened to defend the
state’s position.
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