Initiative to stop natural gas phaseout would turn back the clock in Washington state / Public News Service

Signature gatherers in Washington state hope to get an initiative on the November ballot to roll back the state’s attempt to phase out natural gas in buildings, and environmental groups worry about the effect this initiative would have.

The measure would ensure gas companies and utilities can still offer natural gas and prohibit cities from banning or discouraging natural gas in buildings. The initiative is sponsored by the Building Industry Association of Washington.

Dylan Plummer, senior field organizing strategist for the Sierra Club, said the measure would be bad for the state and its climate goals.

“What they’re hoping to do is turn back the clock several years on the progress Washington state has made on climate action,” Plummer said. “Particularly electrification efforts, whether it’s local building codes like the one Seattle adopted or the state building code and other local efforts.”

Supporters said people should have the option to choose natural gas. To be able to participate in the ballot, signature collectors must obtain nearly 325,000 signatures before July 5.

Plummer argued that maintaining natural gas would worsen the climate crisis and noted that the building sector is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases in the country.

“Specifically, the use of fossil fuels like ‘natural’ gas or methane for heating and hot water,” Plummer noted. “It’s one of the largest sources of emissions in Washington state.”

Plummer added that if the initiative passes, it could have negative effects on the state’s move toward clean energy.

“We are removing key subsidies and incentives that will drive the transition to enable greater access to these really important technologies that will reduce the energy burden, that will protect health and safety indoors and outdoors, and that will protect our climate,” Plummer pointed out.

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New York State’s legislative session ended with climate bills as the top priority.

Legislation such as the Climate Change Superfund Act awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature. Other bills such as the Renewable Action through Interconnection and Project Deployment Act were passed with the budget. The bill accelerates the authorization of clean energy projects and the interconnection of electrical grids.

Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, said speeding up the process benefits the state.

“Many of the renewable energy projects that have been proposed have been stalled due to lack of capacity on nearby transmission lines to actually put electricity on the grid so New Yorkers can access it,” explained Wells. “It makes no sense to build a project that can’t actually meet people’s expectations.”

This after the state’s grid operator, New York Independent System Operator, received a C-minus on its interconnection report card. Its lowest scores were for providing useful interconnection alternatives and the results of the interconnection process.

Wells noted that the measure’s enactment builds on the Public Renewable Energy Construction Act passed in the 2023 state budget.

Other obstacles, such as the numerous processes projects must go through before connecting to the network, can hold them back. A report from the New York State Comptroller found that application delays are holding up permits for renewable energy projects for more than three years.

Despite the challenges, Wells is confident New York can meet its 2030 climate goals.

“There is no shortage of projects being presented to help achieve this goal,” Wells noted. “The problem now is that I don’t think there’s a need for new laws or major changes in the structure. I think it’s about streamlining what we have and getting into a rhythm to build these projects.”

A predictable challenge is gathering enough skilled workers to build the projects. The state’s union leaders are eager to get to work on it with a workforce ready to do so. A 2022 national report showed that failing to speed up transmission increases greenhouse gas emissions by 800 million tons per year.

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Workers in the oil and gas industry are cautiously monitoring the supply and demand for liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Texas is one of the nation’s largest LNG producers, and a report from the nonprofit Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis shows that while there is a surplus of fuel, demand for this product is declining.

Sam Reynolds, research manager at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and co-author of the report, said current and future operations in the Lone Star State could be negatively affected.

“There are currently five LNG projects under construction, primarily in Texas and Louisiana. You have the Golden Pass LNG facility, the Rio Grande LNG facility, Port Author in Texas as well as the LNG facility of Corpus Christi,” he said.

Texas’ oil and gas industry pumps more than $26 million in state and local taxes into the state’s economy each year.

Due to declining demand for liquefied natural gas, the Biden administration has suspended new LNG export projects that are not yet under construction in order to assess their impact on the international market. Reynolds said fuel demand began to decline after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

“LNG prices have skyrocketed globally. LNG has become one of the most expensive fuels available,” he continued. “And as a result, countries in Europe, countries in Northeast Asia have really strengthened or accelerated their measures to reduce their dependence on LNG.”

The United States opened its first LNG export terminal in 2016 and is now the world’s largest supplier of the fuel, followed by Qatar and Australia.

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Virginians are gathering this Sunday for a rally to voice their concerns about data center expansion.

Lawmakers, community leaders and environmental groups are concerned about the lack of safeguards for data center growth in Virginia. Data centers support more than 78,000 jobs and generate billions in tax revenue, but the groups say they pose hidden harms to local residents.

Tim Cywinski, communications director for the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said the Prince William Gateway project is an example of the massive amounts of resources used by data centers.

“This will require more than three gigawatts of energy,” Cywinski pointed out. “That means about two million homes, that’s the equivalent amount of energy. And powering a single data center is more energy than the entire city of Austin, for example. You can’t supply that energy right now in Virginia, it’s impossible.”

He added that utility companies like Dominion Energy are building fossil fuel plants to produce the needed electricity. Some are convinced that this is what the Dominion gas plant in Chesterfield will be used for. The plant faced widespread opposition from community members and lawmakers.

State and federal policies could align Virginia’s current data center growth with its climate goals. But many bills introduced in the last session of the General Assembly along these lines have not moved forward. Cywinski believes the successfully passed data center legislation is woefully inadequate.

“What they pulled off was a JLARC (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission) study to see what the impact of data center growth will look like,” Cywinski explained. “That’s all well and good, five years ago. But we have reached crisis point on this issue, and a JLARC study is not enough.”

At the rate the data centers are growing, Dominion Energy said the facilities would require an additional 8 gigawatts of power, or four times the output of the North Anna nuclear facility in Virginia. Projects are expected to double by 2040.

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