Thursday, April 01, 2004
By David Ammons, Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Washington — Gov. Gary Locke signed into law standards for new power plants Wednesday that will force energy producers to fund environmental projects to partially make up for the pollution they create.

The governor said the changes will reduce carbon dioxide emissions while cutting the time needed to get new power plants approved.

"Having clear standards in place will decrease CO2 emissions that lead to global warming, create more certainty for businesses, decrease rulemaking costs, and speed up permitting processes by as much as a year," Locke said at a signing ceremony.

Locke described the bill as having the strongest standards in the nation for new power plants, which he said are the No. 1 source of carbon dioxide pollution.

The legislation, which gives the force of state law to rules Locke issued last fall, requires future power plants to offset 20 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions by planting trees, buying natural gas-powered buses, or taking other steps to curb pollution. Existing plants will not be affected.

The state estimates the changes will cost the average household less than $1 per year, with a $570 increase for a business with a $350,000-a-year power bill.

The new system, modeled after an Oregon program, replaces case-by-case negotiations on each power plant. California is developing similar rules.

Other environmental legislation Locke signed Wednesday will toughen laws regulating stormwater runoff, step up efforts to prevent and respond to oil spills, and require shippers to take precautions before releasing ballast water that could contain invasive, nonnative species.

Source: Associated Press