Gov. Inslee tours ‘green’ WWU project as voters ponder Climate Commitment Act’s future
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee visited Western Washington University last week to tour a pair of projects related to the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, his signature measure that’s threatened by a repeal effort on this November’s ballot.
On his first stop Wednesday, Inslee toured the university’s Steam Plant, which was built in 1946 and provides heat and hot water for nearly all 50-plus campus buildings.
The plant also generates nearly 100% of WWU’s greenhouse gas emissions and wastes almost half of the heat it produces, WWU officials told The Bellingham Herald during the tour. The Legislature awarded the university $10 million this year to modernize the steam plant, an effort that could take an estimated $35 million in several phases.
“It would totally transform the Western campus heating system,” Becca Kenna-Schenk, chief of staff for President Sabah Randhawa, told The Herald.
Elections law prevents public officials from using public resources for campaign purposes, so Inslee didn’t directly address Initiative 2117 and how it would affect WWU’s funding.
However, WWU officials are keenly aware that their ability to meet the state’s climate goals rely on the more than $2 billion in funding that the measure has provided so far by making polluters pay, using a “cap and invest” model.
State Rep. Alex Ramel, a Democrat who represents the legislature’s 40th District that includes part of Bellingham, said “we’re looking at a real solution here” as the state aims to reduce its greenhouse emissions 95% by 2050.
“Our ability to do this work is dependent on the Climate Commitment Act. This is work that the university needs to do,” Ramel told The Herald.
Ramel said the Steam Plant project will provide well-paying jobs for electricians and pipe-fitters as the facility converts from natural gas-fired boilers to a series of “heating hubs” around campus that feature heat pump technology to heat and cool buildings using electricity.
“Work like this that retrofits these kinds of systems is how (trades workers) can be part of the green energy solution,” Ramel said.
Other WWU projects that receive funding from the Climate Commitment Act are a dozen electric vehicle chargers being installed around campus and a 193-panel solar array that’s being added to the roof of the Science, Math and Technology Education Building.
I-2117 repeal effort
Inslee’s visit comes amid continued opposition to his Climate Commitment Act, which has raised $2 billion to fight climate change through electrification efforts across the public and private sectors.
Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood bankrolled I-2117 through his organization Let’s Go Washington, which has raised more than $7 million to fight the Climate Commitment Act, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Heywood has criticized several projects funded with cap and invest money, including $4 million to address Nooksack River flooding, according to Cascade PBS.
In TV ads and at its website, Let’s Go Washington backers claim that the Climate Commitment Act is a “hidden gas tax.”
A protest sponsored by the group was held Tuesday at a Chevron station on East Sunset Drive in Bellingham.
Zero-energy building
In addition to the Steam Plant, Inslee stopped Wednesday at Kaiser Borsari Hall, which is under construction nearby and is set for completion early next year.
It will offer classes in electrical engineering and computer science and it will be the first publicly funded zero-energy academic building on a university campus in Washington state, WWU officials told The Herald.
This story was originally published September 14, 2024 at 2:07 PM.
