The U.S. Interior Department announced this week $11 million in grants for conservation projects in Washington state.

The federal grants are part of the “America the Beautiful Challenge” to restore land and water across the nation. The 74 grants announced Tuesday total $140 million and will pay for conservation projects in 46 states, three U.S. territories and 21 tribal nations.

In Washington the grants will fund: 

– Salmon habitat restoration projects run by the Yakama Nation and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation: $2.99 million and $2.5 million.

– A multistate effort led by the Nez Perce Tribe to plan for California condor habitat management and restoration: $1.99 million.

– A collaborative effort involving 31 tribal nations to mitigate ecological damage from recreation on Washington public lands: $1 million.

– Cross-border salmon restoration efforts by the Coeur d’Alene Nation: $614,300. 

– An effort by Conservation Northwest to improve native vegetation for tribal harvest and improve salmon habitat in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest: $810,000. 

– Reduce flood risk in the Olympic National Forest: $870,700.

The Biden Administration launched the America the Beautiful Challenge in 2021, with the goal of conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands and water by 2030.

The U.S. and Washington environmental agencies are not adequately tracking how high water temperatures and oxygen-depleting substances are harming Puget Sound’s salmon, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

Three salmon species — Puget Sound Chinook, Hood Canal summer-run chum, and Puget Sound steelhead — are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in 2022 that all three species are at moderate risk of extinction.

Salmon require cool, clean and well-oxygenated water to survive. Warmer-than-optimal temperatures can stress and kill salmon while delaying their migration. 

“The Lummi Nation reported that elevated water temperatures in the Nooksack River in 2021 contributed to the spread of pathogens that killed an estimated 2,500 Chinook salmon before the salmon could spawn,” the report said.

Nutrients from nitrogen from sewage treatment plants and general water runoff have depleted oxygen in Puget Sound. “Low levels of dissolved oxygen can alter embryo incubation periods, decrease the size of fry, increase the likelihood of predation, decrease feeding activity, and negatively affect swimming performance during migration,” the report said.

The GAO faulted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology for not keeping up with their biennial reports on water quality related to salmon. Only two such reports have been submitted since 2012. 

These reports are supposed to track where the state’s water quality standards are met, where water quality standards are borderline, where there is insufficient data to track the standards, and where water quality standards are not met. Roughly half of the 10,000 records examined by the GAO found insufficient data to judge the water quality at specific locations.

In its response to the GAO report, the EPA agreed with the GAO’s conclusions, and said it was working with the state Ecology Department to improve the timeliness of the water quality reports.

The Ecology Department said the GAO did not consider the scale and complexity of collecting and analyzing data from thousands of locations across Washington.

The Washington Department of Ecology is seeking public comment on proposed new rules aimed at reducing landfill methane emissions.

The new rules will require municipal solid-waste landfills to do more to prevent methane from escaping into the atmosphere, as well as to track emissions and make reports to the state. The state also plans to make $15 million in grants available to landfill owners and operators to cover the costs associated with the proposed new regulations.

These proposed new rules would put Washington on par with California, Oregon and Maryland in setting standards for decreasing methane emissions that occur when food and yard waste decompose in landfills.

“Methane gas emissions from landfills are a significant contributor to the climate crisis, and this new program will help us take measures to reduce them,” said Laura Watson, Ecology’s director, in a news release. “Cutting landfill methane emissions is an important step toward meeting our statewide commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050.”

Public comments on the proposal will be accepted online, by mail or at a public hearing on Dec. 6. 

Washington wants to link its carbon pricing program with California and the Canadian province of Quebec in hopes of trimming economic ripple effects, the Ecology Department announced Thursday.

“Connecting the market here in Washington to similar programs elsewhere … would incentivize wise long-term strategies to reduce emissions,” Ecology Department Director Laura Watson wrote in a blog post. 

A recent Ecology Department preliminary analysis concluded the proposed coalition would likely improve the cap-and-invest program’s economic durability, longevity and efficacy. “In a larger, more liquid market with a greater number of participants, allowance prices would likely be lower and change more predictably. Predictable prices can foster greater investments in decarbonization,” the report said.

Participants in Washington’s cap-and-invest program would be able to improve their long-range planning, and perhaps more readily pursue carbon reduction measures, the report said. 

Washington’s carbon pricing market is slightly bigger than Quebec’s, but smaller than California’s. 

Joel Creswell, Washington Ecology Department climate pollution reduction program manager, recently briefed the state House Energy & Environment Committee about this proposed move. He said a three-government cap-and-trade collation would likely shrink Washington’s final bid prices in its quarterly cap-and-invest auctions. 

Washington’s final “settlement” prices were $48.50 per allowance (roughly one metric ton of carbon) for the first quarter of 2023; $56.01 per allowance for the second quarter; and $63.03 per allowance for the third quarter.

Watson said a final decision will depend on talks with the California-Quebec coalition. The earliest that the two markets could link is 2025.

Critics of cap-and-invest are blaming the program’s high final bid prices for increasing gasoline prices at the pump. However, program supporters blame the increasing gasoline prices on oil companies’ greed. Washington’s Democratic legislators plan to introduce an oil industry financial transparency bill in the 2024 session.  

"California has the highest gas prices in the country and the third highest retail electricity rates in the country. ...  Everything California policymakers touch related to energy markets ends in disaster for consumers," State Rep. Mary Dye, ranking Republican on the House Energy & Environment Committee, said in a news release. 

A Crosscut analysis showed numerous independent factors are in play — increasing crude oil prices, high real estate costs, oil transportation costs, different states having different margins between wholesale and retail prices, what is happening elsewhere globally and several other reasons.

The Pacific Northwest is among seven regions picked to receive federal money to become hydrogen industrial hubs.

The Northwest venture — the public/private Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association involving Washington, Oregon and Montana — could receive up to $1 billion in federal dollars. The exact amount and parameters still have to be negotiated.

“The projects in this hub will support thousands of new jobs in Washington and the Northwest, while slashing emission in sectors such as heavy transportation, maritime, agriculture and industrial operations,” said Gov. Jay Inslee in a written statement.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced seven regional winners Friday chosen from 33 finalist proposals. Five of the winners are in Texas or further east. California is the only other winner west of Texas.

The Pacific Northwest coalition believes it can meet a DOE target of producing 50 to 100 metric tons of hydrogen fuel daily. Under this program, each hub is required to provide matching funds to make up at least 50% of the total costs.

While there are many ways to produce hydrogen fuel, this federal venture is interested in “green hydrogen,” created using water and sources of electricity like solar, wind or hydropower. The carbon footprint from this production process can be close to zero.

According to a 2020 Department of Energy report, the U.S. already produces upward of 10 million metric tons of hydrogen annually, but most of this is made using a method that involves natural gas. Only about 1% comes from the non-carbon-emitting “electrolysis” process that yields green hydrogen.

Projects already under in Washington include Fortescue Future Industries of East Perth, Australia, which is planning to build a green hydrogen production facility on the site of a closed coal mine next to the TransAlta coal-fired power plant in Centralia in Lewis County. The only one in Washington, TransAlta's coal-fired plant is scheduled to close in 2025.

The ports of Tacoma and Seattle are brainstorming developing fuel production facilities.

The Douglas County Public Utility District in Central Washington is building a complex along the Columbia River to produce hydrogen. That plant is on track to begin operating in 2024.

Several companies are planning to test hydrogen aircraft near Moses Lake.

The first legal showdown over Washington’s cap-and-trade program, which went into effect in January, will be Sept. 22 in Thurston County Superior Court.

In January the Citizen Action Defense Fund, a watchdog group that focuses on conservative causes, filed a lawsuit against the state that alleges the Legislature crammed multiple subjects into its 2022 transportation bill, including the cap-and-trade program. The complaint alleges that the bill violates the Washington state constitution by covering more than one subject.

In the Sept. 22 hearing, the plaintiff will seek a summary judgment from the judge on its lawsuit.

The lawsuit has two goals, said Jackson Maynard, executive director for the Citizen Action Defense Fund. One is to hold the line on the constitutional rule that limits a bill to one subject. The second is to halt, at least temporarily, the state’s new cap-and trade program.

The Legislature approved the cap-and-trade bill in 2021, but not until last year’s transportation bill was passed could the Washington Department of Ecology set up regulations to put the program into action.

Washington’s cap-and-trade program is designed to decrease carbon emissions in the state to meet 2035 and 2050 decarbonization goals. A 2021 Washington Department of Ecology report estimated the state’s carbon dioxide emissions at 99.57 million tons in 2018. A 2008 state law calls for overall emissions to be reduced to 50 million tons by 2030, to 27 million tons by 2040 and to 5 million tons by 2050.

Under the program, carbon-emitting corporations bid on allowances for the pollution emitted by their facilities. Through a complex system, the winning bidders all pay the same prices during each quarterly auction. Those final prices were $48.50 per allowance (roughly one metric ton of carbon) for the first quarter of 2023; $56.01 per allowance for the second quarter; and $63.03 per allowance for the third quarter.

Washington’s program is often referred to as “cap-and-invest,” because the money raised in the auction is spent on projects meant to slow or adapt to climate change, such as replacing gas-powered buses and ferries with electric versions, building cleaner energy projects and more.

The cap-and-trade bids have been linked to gasoline price increases of 40 cents to 50 cents per gallon. Right now, Washington and California are competing to have the highest gasoline prices in the nation. Washington’s gas prices have traditionally been near the highest in the nation due to a variety of factors, but June was the first time that Washington has posted the highest prices.

The program has raised $1.46 billion so far. The money is earmarked for a large number of programs to combat climate change, which has been linked to increasing problems with health, agriculture, fish and wildfires.

“I’m not convinced the money generated from Washington’s cap-and-trade system will help the environment,” said Dann Mead Smith of the fund’s board of directors. 

Negating the state’s 2022 rule-making capabilities on cap-and-trade will temporarily stop the program, which will translate to lower gasoline prices, Smith said.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s office does not comment on ongoing litigation, said spokesman Mike Faulk. “However, laws are presumed constitutional and the challenging party bears the heavy burden of establishing its unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt; and the Legislature routinely passes omnibus revenue measures with an intentionally broad title,” Faulk said.

Former Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna is on the attorney advisory council for the defense fund. 

Other conservative groups are trying additional avenues to attempt to block the new law. The advocacy organization Let’s Go Washington is gathering signatures on petitions to ask the Washington Legislature to repeal the state’s new carbon-pricing system.

Let’s Go Washington has to collect 324,516 valid signatures by Dec. 29 to submit to the Legislature any of the six petitions it is developing. If the Legislature decides not to act on the petitions with enough signatures in its 2024 session, they would go on the election ballot for the November 2024 election.

Democrats have significant majorities in both the Washington House and Senate, meaning any successful petition would likely receive a chilly reception.

Washington will hold its third carbon auction on Wednesday under its new cap-and-invest  program.

The first two auctions sold pollution credits totaling about $800 million. The third is expected to put the total for the year well over $1 billion.

This is the first year of implementing the state’s new Climate Commitment Act, which passed in 2021. Businesses generating more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon emissions must participate in the program or face fines of up to $10,000 per violation per day. 

During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers made decisions about how to spend the money raised through these auctions, focusing on projects to slow or adapt to climate change. Those investments include money to electrify buses and ferries and build a charging infrastructure, restore salmon habitat, accelerate clean-energy projects and help ease the burden of pollution on vulnerable communities.

The May auction sold pollution for more than $500 million. The February auction raised almost $300 million. 

The Washington Department of Ecology announced this week that the May auction sold nearly 8.6 million 2023 allowances and another 2.5 million 2026 allowances. Each unit represents one metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions.

The price on carbon was higher at the May auction, where bids were received almost entirely from energy companies and utilities. 

Two projects in Central Washington received federal grants aimed at increasing water storage and supply in Western states.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation granted $1 million to the Cle Elum Pool Raise project, which will increase the reservoir’s capacity by 3 feet, adding 14,600 acre-feet of water to help manage habitat and migration for salmon and steelhead. The allocation is in addition to a $5 million federal grant announced last fall. The reservoir level will be raised by 2028, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

Another $1 million will go to the Upper Yakima System Storage Feasibility Study to help the Kittitas Irrigation District find water-storage alternatives for the region. Both projects are part of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan.

While these projects have been in the works for decades, Washington state has faced increasing drought conditions in recent years, with a drought emergency declared for 12 counties earlier this week. The state attributed the drought conditions to higher-than-normal temperatures in May and lower-than-normal rain in the late spring and early summer months.

The money for the water projects comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides billions of dollars to projects across the U.S. including transportation, roads, ports and broadband.

Twelve Washington counties are now officially in a drought emergency, the state Department of Ecology declared this week, after early snowmelt in May, low streamflows and a lack of spring rain.

The affected counties are Benton, Clallam, Columbia, Jefferson, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Skagit, Snohomish, Walla Walla, Whatcom and Yakima. Drought conditions have made fish passage difficult on the Olympic Peninsula, caused wells to run dry in Whatcom County and led to crop losses and low reservoirs in Central Washington.

The state declares a drought when there is less than 75% of normal water supply and a risk of undue hardship, according to the Department of Ecology. The rest of the state remains under a July 5 drought advisory, which is an early warning of a possible drought. 

The emergency declaration allows the state to grant emergency water-rights permits and makes $3 million in emergency funds available to help communities and public entities facing hardships due to the lack of water. 

According to the state, the hot weather through May and June led to the early melting and runoff of the snowpack that supplies much of the water that flows through the state’s rivers. June was also drier than normal, with only 49% of normal rainfall. This water shortage is unlikely to be made up over this summer because of the warm, dry weather expected through October, according to the state.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture has spotted the first adult Japanese beetle of this year in Yakima County on Tuesday. 

The beetle, which is not established in Washington, can feed on 300 different plants, creating concern that it could negatively impact several of Washington’s top agricultural commodities, such as cherries and hops. It was first spotted in Sunnyside in 2020.

The Japanese beetle’s presence in the Central Washington county has grown since then. Tens of thousands of beetles have been spotted in Sunnyside, Grandview and Wapato, and the state has started a yard debris quarantine program along with other measures in a multiyear effort to eradicate these beetles.

Public engagement specialist Karla Salp wrote on the WSDA blog that the Department has set traps in areas near the high school in Grandview where the beetle was detected, in anticipation of thousands of additional beetles emerging there. 

Salp also outlined several ways Yakima Valley residents can assist the agency in its capture and eradication effort, including reporting sightings online, installing traps on their property and allowing WSDA to spray on their property. 

The Washington State Department of Agriculture recently completed a second round of pesticide treatment in the affected areas this spring.