Washington ranks last in renewable energy transition

Washington's Green Energy Failure: A Foundational Crisis

One of the problems with Democratic Republics (it's still the best form of government, so don't get too excited) is the tendency for elected officials to gravitate toward topical, shiny, short-term issues to spend their time on.

This isn't to say that many of those issues aren't important, but an analysis shows that nearly one in five of the 2,074 bills introduced this past session in the legislature dealt with immigration and civil rights, while proposals aimed at securing a dependable and sustainable energy supply didn't even crack the top 10 topics.

Bill counts aren't a perfect measure of the legislature's attention, but it is a data point worth considering.

Liberal Oregon and Washington Vowed to Pioneer Green Energy. Almost Every Other State Is Beating Them.

With that background, it is still surprising to learn that Washington is the worst state in the nation for bringing new sources of renewable energy online — this despite passage of massive clean-energy and climate-focused revenue sources like the Climate Commitment Act.

This article from ProPublica is required reading for anyone who plans to keep their family or business in Washington. The blame for falling this far behind in the renewable transition is predominantly placed at the feet of a byzantine web of government regulations, permitting requirements, and the sclerotic inadequacy of the Federal Government’s Bonneville Power Administration.

The solution, however, requires that the business community and the general public start prioritizing this issue and letting elected officials at all levels know that reliable, affordable, sustainable, and dependable access to energy is a foundational problem to solve.

If we don’t get this right, no other issues matter.