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Department of Ecology News Release - July 23, 2008
08-203
OLYMPIA – Washington’s Climate Action Team meets Friday, July 25, in Spokane to continue its work on actions to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases in the state.
Climate Action Team (CAT) members are working to turn some of the 2007 Climate Advisory Team’s most promising recommendations into policies and actions to help meet greenhouse gas emission reductions. Gov. Chris Gregoire first outlined those reductions in Executive Order 07-02 in February 2007. The 2008 Legislature codified the reductions in HB 2815, the Governor’s request legislation on climate change and green jobs.
The team is led by Jay Manning, director of the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), and Juli Wilkerson, director of the Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED).
CAT members will meet from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday in Room 206 at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The Spokane Convention Center was awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) rating, and operates daily in an environmentally friendly, “green” manner.
About 20 CAT members and staff will travel to and from Spokane on a bus powered by biodiesel. They will stop to tour Puget Sound Energy’s Wild Horse Wind Facility northeast of Ellensburg.
Friday’s meeting follows today’s (Wednesday, July 23) release by the Western Climate Initiative of the latest draft design for a regional cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions. Washington is the chair and a founding member of the Western Climate Initiative, which also includes the U.S. states of California, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Montana as well as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario.
You can follow the work of CAT members, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and other climate change groups at the Ecology/CTED climate change website, http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/index.htm. On the climate change website, you also can:
Sign up for the climate change listserv to receive updated news and information, including WCI, CAT, The Climate Registry and the implementation of HB 2815.
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Media Contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; 360-584-5744 cell; spre461@ecy.wa.gov
Ecology/CTED climate change website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/index.htm
Spokane Convention Center directions and parking: http://www.spokanecenter.com/directions.php
Puget Sound Energy’s Wild Horse Wind Facility: http://www.pse.com/energyEnvironment/energysupply/pages/EnergySupply_ElectricityWind.aspx?tab=3&chapter=1
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
