WASHINGTON — To address greenhouse gas emission concerns, the Washington State Legislative passed laws outlining emission reductions every 10 years. State law specifies that emissions should be below 90.5 million metric tons by 2020, 50 million by 2030, and 5 million by 2050. This final goal represents just 5% of the total greenhouse gases emitted in 1990.
To ensure progress, the law requires regular reporting, which is managed by the Department of Ecology. However, a new lawsuit alleges that the department has not fulfilled its reporting obligations.
Todd Myers from the Washington Policy Center is one of the plaintiffs. He emphasized the importance of having access to the total number of greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
“This is the key piece of data to see how we are doing,” Myers said.
Despite the requirement, Myers claims the Department of Ecology has not released the latest numbers.
“Without this information, we don’t even know how Washington state is doing and are we meeting our own mandated goals?” Myers explained.
This is Myers’ second lawsuit against the Department of Ecology for this data.
In the first instance, Myers said the judge ruled against him because he is not a member of the legislature. The current lawsuit includes several state legislators as plaintiffs.
Efforts to obtain a comment from the Department of Ecology were unsuccessful due to the office being closed for the holiday. They are expected to provide a statement later this week.
