Category Archives: Environment

Update on Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna Asleep at the Wheel

Posted on May 3rd, 2006 | 1 comment

On Tuesday I speculated aloud about why Washington State was not a party to the Lawsuit filed by California and 9 others states plus the city of New York and the District of Columbia challenging the weak Federal Fuel Efficiency Standards issued in March.. I wondered if it could have been because McKenna received some 28 contributions over $1000 each (over $36,000) from automobile interests when he ran for Washington State Attorney General.

To be fair I have a call into the Attorney General’s Office asking why Washington State is not a party to this lawsuit. When the Bush Administration issued the fuel efficiency standards in March it also included a 52 page statement saying that only the Federal Government could regulate CO2 emissions from cars and trucks.

Such an action would override the Clean Car legislation the Washington State Legislature passed last year. It seems that from consumer protection, health protection and environmental protection Attorney General Rob McKenna is not protecting Washington State’s interests.

In addition to trying to get their response verbally I have just sent them the following e-mail entitled “Why is Washington State not a party to the Lawsuit filed by the California AG to increase fuel efficiency standards for SUV’s and light trucks?


Dear Attorney General Rob McKenna,

Yesterday the California Attorney General and nine other state Attorney Generals and the District of Columbia and New City filed a lawsuit in Federal Court challenging the Federal fuel efficiency standards set in March for light trucks and SUV’s. See press release http://ag.ca.gov/news alerts/release.php?id=1299#attachments

Almost all of the states in the lawsuit have passed Clean Car Legislation patterned after California’s. Washington State passed such legislation last year.And Oregon is in the process of enacting similar rules.

As part of the final standards issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a 52 page memorandum was added by the current administration stating that the Federal Government, not the states , have the authority to regulate CO2 emissions.

It would seem to me that the state of Washington needs to respond to this issue, not just because it challenges legislation passed by the Washington State Legislature, but also because of the need for Washington State to do all it can increase fuel efficiency and cut gases that contribute to global emissions.

Thank you for your response.

Sincerely,
Steve Zemke
In addition I have contacted the California Attorney General’s Office on this matter.I asked them if they had asked McKenna about being on the suit. A person in their press office responded that “the protocol is to reach out to a wide variety of states.” They do this through their national organization – the National Association of Attorney Generals.

She said they communicated regularly with other states to make it possible to join the lawsuit. “Lots of communication goes on”. She said I should check with the Washington AG’s office and said” it was a fair question to ask” when I wondered if his decision was affected by our Attorney General getting donations from automotive interests.

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Missing in Action – Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna

Posted on May 2nd, 2006 | Comments Off on Missing in Action – Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna

Where is Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna? Is he asleep at the wheel? It certainly seems that is the case. In the story reported today in the Washington Post Washington state is conspicuously absent from the list of states today filing a suit to enforce and protect Washington citizens from rising gas prices and global warming.

Today California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and nine other states filed suit against the Bush Administration. Joining the California Attorney General in the lawsuit were Attorney Generals from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.

They are challenging the Bush Administration’s recently issued weak fuel economy standards for SUV’s and light trucks. Weak standards contribute to wasting gasoline, rising gas prices and global warming.
Lockyer states that:

“With gas prices skyrocketing, we must substantially increase fuel efficiency in new vehicles, not only to protect the pocketbooks of working families, but also to reduce vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming,” said Lockyer. “These rules fail that test by not requiring enough from the auto industry. The Bush Administration once again has missed an opportunity to promote new technology, fuel economy and conservation by issuing fuel economy goals that are status quo.”

In addition Lockyer noted that when Bush issued the fuel efficiency rules, Bush attached a 52 page discussion that asserted only the Federal Government, not individual states, could regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing carbon dioxide is crucial to reducing global warming.

President Bush and his Administration have spent most of their time in office representing corporate America and the oil and gas industry and car manufacturers while arguing that global warming is only a theory. He refused to sign the international Kyoto Protocol to help reduce worldwide global warming.

Washington State last year passed HB 1937 – changing vehicle emission standards. The vote in the House was 55 to 42 and in the Senate 29 to 19. The preamble to HB 1937 noted that

“motor vehicles are the largest source of air pollution in the state of Washington, and motor vehicles contribute approximately fifty-seven percent of criteria air pollutant emissions, eighty percent of toxics emissions and fifty-four percent of greenhouse gases”

Washington State is one of 10 states that have adopted Clean Car Legislation. The other states are California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

The state of Oregon is currently adopting California style clear air standards by administrative rule. The Dept of Environmental Quality just won a lawsuit opposing their action in March and will present the recommendationsions to the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission in June for adoption.

In a previous letter to the National Highway Safety Administration, the states suing asserted that the NHTSA,

“failed to consider alternative approaches that would have promoted energy conservation, made meaningful contributions to increased fuel economy and encouraged technological innovation. In addition, the letter said, NHTSA failed to consider the environmental consequences of its proposed overhaul of light truck standards, failed to consider the changes in the environment since the 1980s, when NHTSA last assessed the environmental effects of the standards, and failed to evaluate the impact of carbon dioxide emissions despite identifying the threat of CO2 and global climate change as new information concerning the environment.”

Now here’s a question for you. In looking at Rob McKenna’s 2004 Attorney General campaign contributors, it turns out that a number are employed by auto industry firms. Maybe a third of his contributors appear not to have an employer listed as required by law so I’m sure the number is higher. But of those that do, here is a list of employers, who were easily identified, of the contributors, who gave McKenna $1000 or more. You can see yourself by going to www.pdc.wa.gov.

Titus Will $2700
Honda Auto Center $2500
Toyota of Puyallup $1350
Bob Bridge Auto Center $1350
Enterprise Rent a Car $1350
Lexus of Bellevue $2700
Pignataro Volkswagen $1350
Sound Ford $1350
United Services Automobile Assoc $1350
Washington Oil Marketers Assoc PAC $1250
Sound Ford $1150
Brotherton Cadillac $2000
Downtown Toyota $1000
Honda Auto Center $1000
Volvo of Tacoma $1000
Lexus of Tacoma $1000
Lexus of Bellevue $1000
Jaguar of Tacoma $1000
Dick Hamak Dealership $1000
Chevron Texaco $1000
Acura of Seattle $1000
Volkswagen Hyundai $1250
Richland RV Park $1350

So while almost all of the other states which have passed Clean Car Legislation, joined the suit to try to force the Bush Administration to come up with standards to increase fuel efficiency and reduce global warming, Washington State’s Attorney General has not done so. Can it be because of his automobile industry friends and contributors?

McKenna also did not represent Washington citizens last year in a similar case. Washington state was not among 10 states suing the EPA over greenhouse gases. Is Rob McKenna representing our interests or the interests of corporate America? Maybe he doesn’t believe in global warming? Or maybe he can still afford to fill up his car?

If you would like to ask Rob McKenna why he hasn’t filed on this lawsuit you can contact him at:

Attorney General Rob McKenna
1125 Washington St. SE
PO Box 40100
Olympia, WA. 98504-0100
Telephone: 360-753-6200

Fax: 360-586-7671

E-Mail: Contact the Attorney General Online.
http://www.atg.wa.gov/ago_contact.shtml#38 click not listed for a response form

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Earth Day – 36 years later

Posted on April 23rd, 2006 | Comments Off on Earth Day – 36 years later

Today Saturday April 22nd is Earth Day. Here are a few suggestions of things you can do to celebrate the Earth. The first things you can do anywhere on earth. Then I will suggest a few things for people in Washington state.

Take a deep breath of air.
Have a drink of fresh water.
Take a walk outside.
Take time to look at the plants and animals.
Think about the world you live in.
Think about where you are now.
Think about the future.
Think about what kind of earth we should leave for future generations.
Think about something you can do for a better future.
Then do that something.

Some Washington State action items:

Go to the website Yes on I-937. Volunteer to collect 100 signatures to help get the initiative on the fall ballot. I-937 is the Clean Energy Initiative. It would require that by 2020 15% of Washington State’s electricity would come from renewable resources.

Go to the website for Washington Conservation Voters and look over things you can do, including go to an environmental activist training session on May 6, 2006. Make an on line donation to further their work to elect environment friendly candidates in Washington state.

Go to Puget Consumer’s Coop and buy local natural food. Go to PCC ‘s webpage for the PCC Farmland Trust. Make an on line donation to help save threatened local farmland and turn it into organic production.

If you have to go somewhere today consider taking the bus or walking instead of driving.

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Washington State Again Leads Nation in Recycling

Posted on March 27th, 2006 | 1 comment

Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington State has signed into law the electronic waste recycling bill, SB 6428, passed by the Legislature. This puts Washington State into the forefront of dealing with this issue. The New York Times today credited Washington state as “enacting the most far-reaching electronic waste bill to date.”

In her press release Gov. Gregoire notes “This bill puts our market-based economy to work for the environment…. “It’s a responsible step in the best interests of the public, because no matter who owns the equipment at the end of its life, it will be recycled – free of charge.”

In an article in the Seattle PI today byThe Associated Press, Rachel La Corte states that Washington state residents throw out more than a million TV’s and computer monitors each year. This figure comes from a two year study by the Department of Ecology.

Nationally about two million tons or 4,000,000,000 pounds of electronic waste are generated each year according to the U.S. environmental Protection Agency.

The New York Times notes that televisions and computers can contain up to 8 pounds of lead as well as other toxic materials like mercury and cadmium which can leach into and poison drinking water supplies.

The new Washington state law requires that computer and electronic companies establish and set up a program to collect and safely dispose of discarded electronics. Manufactures will pay for the system, rather than consumers paying to dispose of the old products.

We know consumers will still pay for it as part of overall system costs but still the disincentive to recycle when you have to pay for disposal when your TV dies is not there. You will be able to do it for free under the new law.

Hewlett Packard and the Washington Retail Association among others testified in support of the bill.

Locally this legislation was spearheaded by Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation.Further excellent analysis of the bill and their efforts can be found on their website.

The passage of this bill is one of the recent success stories of the environmental community here is Washington state. The e-waste recycling bill was picked as one of the 4 priorities of the environmental community this year under their Priorities for a Healthy Washington Campaign. Three out of their four prime bills were enacted.

The text of this legislation and the history of the Legislature’s actions on this bill can be seen at the official website for the Legislature. The following Washington State Senators were original sponsors of the bill:

Senators Pridemore, Esser, Poulsen, Morton, Schmidt, Fairley, Benson, Berkey, Regala, Kohl-Welles, Weinstein, Prentice, Kastama, Johnson, Thibaudeau, Kline, Eide, Shin, Rockefeller, Jacobsen, Haugen, Doumit, Oke, Franklin, Swecker, Carrell, Rasmussen, Spanel, Fraser, McAuliffe, Keiser, Brown, Finkbeiner, Brandland, Benton were prime sponsors of the original bill. You can send an e-mail to them to thank them for their support by clicking on their name above.

The final vote in the Senate was 38 to 11. In the House it was 69 to 29.

Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation is one of the success stories come out of progressive politics in Washington state. In 1979, I worked with others to put together and run Initiative 61 for deposits on beverage containers. It was an initiative to the Legislature. We secured 43 Legislative sponsors but the Legislature ultimately didn’t act.

I-61 was placed on the November ballot. We faced a record spending blitz at the time of over a million dollars by grocery stores like Safeway and bottling industry distributors for Coke and Pepsi among others.

Initially having over 70% support in the polls we wound up losing 43% to 57%. As a grassroots organization with little funds we couldn’t compete with their million campaign.

After the election the volunteers and campaign people involved in our organization, Citizens for Returnable Beverage Containers, were polled to see what they wanted to do next. Despite our loss they wanted to continue working for increased recycling. We reformed under the banner of Washington Citizens for Recycling and successfully engaged over the years in promoting recycling in Washington State.

A number of years ago the organization changed names to Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, to broaden its focus but it continues to be an active and successful grassroots organization in this state. A special thanks to all those continuing the good fight.

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McGavick, McCain, Mc????

Posted on March 22nd, 2006 | Comments Off on McGavick, McCain, Mc????

Senator John McCain is a conservative Republican running for President of the United States in 2008. He is doing what any potential candidate for President must do if he wants to win. He must build up debts that others owe him that he can call in later.

Mike McGavick is running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat in Washington state that is currently held by Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell. McCain was the star attraction at a McGavick fundraiser held Tuesday night at a hotel in Seattle, WA. McGavick hopes to emulate McCain.

However, nationally there is a debate emerging as to just who is John McCain. See Daily Koz’s blog, Bushier Than Thou! as one example. See also the article in The Nation entitled, The Real McCain. That same debate needs to occur for McGavick.

McGavick has not run for office before in Washington state. He is hoping that he can appear to be all things to all people just like Dino Rossi did in his run for Governor of Washington state. And he is hoping for a little of Senator McCain’s overrated independent status in the media.

I don’t think that Democrats can let that happen. McGavick needs to be asked now what he stands for. For instance, what is his position on proposed Initiative 933? I-933 is the initiative being pushed by the Washington State Farm Bureau. It is an attempt to end zoning laws in Washington state by requiring that developers and others receive tax dollars from the state if the state won’t let them build whatever they want, where ever they want.

Initiative 933 is being opposed by the Community Protection Coalition.

If McGavick positions are vague then one needs to look at things like his cozying up to McCain. What is McCain’s record on so called property rights issues?

Well one place you can look is at his voting record. And actually that voting record has been tallied up by none other than a national organization based here in Washington state.

Chuck Cushman, who was involved with the infamous so called Wise Use Movement that attacked environmental regulations in the past, now runs an organization called the American Land Rights Association. They recently changed their name from the “League of Private Property Voters”. Cushman is based in Battleground, Washington.

Their “mission” is “dealing with private property issues including government land use controls, federal and state growth management, wetlands and the Endangered Species Act.”

Their 2003 Private Property Congressional Vote Index is the last one listed. Rating issues such as repeal of the Estate Tax, reducing legal barriers to timber sales and cutting environmental and conservation program funding it gives McCain a positive rating of 67% in 2003. In 2001-2002 he received a rating of 70%, in 2001 a rating of 86%, and a 62% rating in 2000.

By way of contrast Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Patty Murray in 2003 both scored “0”‘s . On the House side Jay Inslee scored “0”, Brian Baird “8” Rick Larsen “25”, Norm Dicks “8”, Jim McDermott “0”, Adam Smith “8” and Doc Hastings “100”.If McGavick does not like this associating and guessing where he is on issues, then he needs to clearly state his positions. If you go to his website and check on environmental issues it sounds just like what Cushman and the private use people would say because it is so vague. It sounds like something Chuck Cushman would write frankly. I have taken the liberty of making bold those words and sentences that in particular raise a red flag.

Environmental conservation and productive development are not mutually exclusive. We can protect and improve our environment while at the same time allowing responsible human development.
In Eastern Washington especially, the choice to save the salmon or keep the dams has been presented as an either/or issue. This simply isn’t the case.
Washingtonians know what’s best for their communities and its time the federal government let us solve our own problems.
The environment can be protected while allowing for development such as the dams that make Eastern Washington a bread basket rather than a dust bowl.
The federal government must step aside and allow us Northwesterners to deal with the problem as we see fit for we have the greatest at stake when it comes to keeping our state beautiful and our economies strong.

This “environmental statement” does not say where McGavick is on the Endangered Species Act, on protecting Federal Regulations on Air and Water Pollution, on cleaning up Puget Sound, on making polluters pay for cleaning up their toxic waste, protecting wilderness areas, or global warming or much else. It’s emphasis seems to be on his saying we should get the Federal Government out of our state and let us develop whatever we want. This sounds like an appeal to the Chuck Cushman’s of the world, not to most of Washington’s voters who love Washington State because of it’s environmental qualities. These people do not want to trade for the sake of some dollars in developers’ pockets the quality of life we now enjoy.

 

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Posted in Elections, Environment, Initiatives, Republicans

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Environmental Activists Score Huge Success in Washington Legislature

Posted on March 16th, 2006 | Comments Off on Environmental Activists Score Huge Success in Washington Legislature

I just received an e-mail from Amy Zarrett of the Priorities for a Healthy Washington Campaign and wanted to share with you their legislative report on the just completed Washington State Legislative Session. They have done a fantastic and successful job pushing their selected bills and deserve recognition and thanks from us.

REPORT FROM THE CAPITOL
For the fourth year in a row the state’s conservation community selected four proactive proposals to bring to the legislature with the hope of improving the lives of people and protecting our quality of life. We wrapped up the session with a stunning .750 batting average with three out of the four bills passing. Additionally, the effort to halt any attacks on community protection and land use laws was a complete success.

The issues with their end-of-session status are listed below. To see how each Representative and Senator voted, click on the link at the end of any issue update. Also you can read the news of session as reported in the state capitol’s daily paper on March 9th.

Launch Electronic Waste Recycling
SSB 6428 passed the Senate on a strong bi-partisan vote of 38-11 on Monday, March 6th. The House had recently approved the same bill with a vote of 69-29. This bill will provide safe, free, and convenient recycling for the millions of outdated computers, monitors and TVs piling up in our homes, schools, and offices. Each year, these obsolete electronics turn into millions of pounds of “e-waste” which contains lead, mercury and other substances too toxic to be thrown in the trash. The legislation will create hundreds of jobs and establish the most extensive manufacturer responsibility requirements in the nation.
http://www.environmentalpriorities.org/e-waste

Clean Up Puget Sound
The bill to get failing septic systems cleaned up (HB1458) passed the House on Saturday February 11th with strong bi-partisan support in the House, 70-25. The Senate passed the bill 28-15 on February 28th. The bill is part of the Governor’s legislative package to implement early actions under her Puget Sound Initiative. The bill is directed at failing systems dumping sewage into Hood Canal and parts of Puget Sound and provides funding and flexibility for local governments to design programs to require repair of failing systems. A grant and loan program is authorized to assist low-income homeowners. The legislature passed the Governor’s Puget Sound Budget for 2006 of $56 million to accelerate toxic cleanups and prevent new pollution.
http://www.environmentalpriorities.org/pugetsound

Energy Independence through Renewable Fuels
The Renewable Fuels Standard bill (SB6508) passed the House earlier in session with a strong, bipartisan vote, and the Senate on a somewhat closer 29-19 vote (with 1 absent) on March 6th. This proposal would reduce Washington’s dependence on fossil fuels and provide a new market for Washington crops. This legislation will grow a new biofuels economy by including a minimum percentage of biofuels in the statewide fuel mix. The standards start at 2%, and ramps up to 5% for biodiesel and 10% for ethanol. This bill will attract biofuels jobs, provide farm income, and reduce the state’s vulnerability to volatile oil markets.
http://www.environmentalpriorities.org/biofuels

Protect Kids’ Health by Eliminating Toxic Flame Retardants
Despite strong bipartisan support, the legislature failed for the second consecutive year to pass important legislation to phase out the use of toxic flame retardants (HB 1488) called PBDEs that are rapidly building up in breast milk, our bodies, and in wildlife. Out-of-state chemical industry interests lobbied aggressively against the bill, spreading misinformation about its impacts. PBDEs are chemical cousins of long-banned PCBs, and are known to impair learning, behavior, and development in lab animals. The bill was supported by the Washington State Nurses Association, the Washington chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many more public health, faith, and environmental organizations.

Defending our Communities
All the efforts to roll back land use protections were halted by an effective campaign to maintain community safeguards. In addition, several successful bills will help resolve long-standing conflicts on Growth Management issues. We all value the place where we live. The security and protection of our homes, our communities, and even our drinking water depend on having balanced laws that allow growth while protecting farmland, shorelines, and our quality of life. That is why these attacks were stymied and why positive reforms passed to help give communities more flexibility as they responsibly implement land use improvements

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Rabid Talk Radio

Posted on January 5th, 2006 | Comments Off on Rabid Talk Radio

Talk radio has been ranting about Seattle making recycling mandatory. How stupid! It’s only common sense and dollars and war. What do I mean?

Well recycling means we pay less for garbage disposal. That issue was decided long ago when special interests proposed that Seattle burn its garbage. The recycling community and others asked the City Council to do what any sensible business does – do a cost effectiveness study of the various alternatives to disposing of Seattle’s garbage. When it was completed the results said it would cost Seattle ratepayers less to recycle as much waste as it could and work to reduce waste in the first place than it would to burn it or bury it.

Burning garbage produces toxic incinerator waste and ash as well as emitting chemicals into the air we breathe. These include dioxin which is produced when plastic is burned. The incinerator industry’s solution to toxic ash was a prolonged attempt to try to declare it non-toxic by bureaucratic fiat, namely rename it as non-toxic.

Dumping garbage in the landfill is costly. We currently ship our garbage to eastern Washington – a not in my back yard, an out of sight out of mind solution.

Recycling saves both materials to be reused or remade into new products. Like plastic into picnic tables. It also saves energy. For example recycling aluminum into new cans uses 1/20 of the energy it takes to produce one from raw bauxite. Producing aluminum is very energy intensive and competes here in the NW with other energy users like Seattle’s electric ratepayers.

And my punch line – is this why we are in Iraq, so we can keep access to oil so we can continue to produce more plastic and other throwaway garbage instead of reducing waste and recycling? It’s a question of priorities as well as cost. Recycling makes sense and saves dollars and makes us more responsible world citizens. How many people have to die in places like Iraq and elsewhere so we can continue a throwaway society? Seattle is doing the right thing.

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Cantwell Filibuster Successful

Posted on December 21st, 2005 | Comments Off on Cantwell Filibuster Successful

The Senate failed to end Senator Cantwell’s filibuster to stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That is good news for stopping the Republican Corporate Steamroller that under Bush has been trying to roll back decades of environmental gains.

While a win is great, America really needs to kick its addiction to oil and its dependence on getting energy from other countries.

The real issue not being addressed is America’s security and economy that is being put at serious risk because the Republicans who are fronts for Corporate America are only looking to milk the present economy for all the gains it can get. It’s doesn’t want to shift to other sources of energy and reduce unnecessary energy consumption because it really has no vision of the future.

The same lack of planning that made Iraq the disaster it is today is prevalent in the Republican Corporate bureaucracy that Bush has put in charge of our Federal bureaucracy. What’s needed is a giant push for Energy Independence as well as efforts to reduce our overall consumption of oil and coal and other energy resources that contribute to global warming. Its time to push Congress to get serious on reducing greenhouse gas production by pushing for increased fuel efficiency for all cars and trucks. Just shifting to hybrid cars would be a great step.

Let’s put Republican Corporate America on the defensive. Would we really be in Iraq if it didn’t have any oil? How many Americans and Iraq citizens must die to feed America’s lust for oil?

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Addicted to Oil

Posted on December 21st, 2005 | Comments Off on Addicted to Oil

Seems America has fallen into an oil pit and can’t imagine a way out. Right now the big fight is over whether to open the Arctic National Wildlife Range to more drilling. Republicans seem to only see the black gold. Democrats seem to only see the white snow and unpolluted American habitat. An article by Peter Maas entitled “The Price of Oil” in the Dec. 16, 2005 edition of the New York Times Magazine suggests to me it’s a classic NIMBY problem – not in my back yard.

I’m not suggesting that the Democrats and environmentalists are wrong, I support them, its just that Peter Maas correctly points out that there is no real effort to reduce our dependence and consumption of oil. Until we do, we just pass the resource extraction problems on to other nations. Maas points out that most U.S. environmental organizations focus their resources on domestic issues, yet oil is really a global issue. Our dependence on oil contributes to our foreign debt. Our international relations with other nations revolve around our need for oil.

Maas states the main obstacle is the “apparent bipartisan consensus in Washington to make whatever compromises are necessary to ensure that America receives the ever-increasing quantities of petroleum that it requires…”.

What can you do – well when’s the last time you told Senator Maria Cantwell or Senator Patty Murray or your U.S. Representative that you oppose continuing the hazardous policy of our increasing dependence on domestic and FOREIGN oil. We need to pursue conservation and alternative energy development. We need a sane energy policy that minimizes wasteful consumption of resources. Our real goal needs to be to make America Energy Independent, while protecting our environment and that of other nations around the world.

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