Category Archives: 1st Senate Hearing 2023

SB5659

SB5659 – Allows gas utilities to develop a wide range of renewable energy projects, and creating a tax exemption for renewable gas.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Boehnke (R; 8th District; Tri-Cities) (Co-Sponsor Liias – D)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology February 14th.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Comments –
The bill adds to the provisions of HB1619 in several ways.

Summary –
The bill would authorize gas companies to develop projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of natural gas delivered to in-state customers and from electricity generated from fossil fuels that’s used by retail electric customers in the state. They could seek to recover the cost of those investments in their rates through the UTC. Those investments might include residential and commercial rooftop solar, including battery storage and supplemental solar; community solar projects designed to offset carbon associated with the use of conventional natural gas; ground source heat pumps for district heating and targeted load reduction in new buildings used as a strategy for complying with the State’s cap and trade requirements; renewable gaseous fuels projects, including renewable natural gas and green electrolytic hydrogen, along with associated facility and pipeline infrastructure, upgrades, and improvements for industrial and heavy duty transportation; carbon capture and sequestration projects associated with natural gas projects and facilities; and research, development, and pilot efforts pertaining to nonemitting natural gas equipment and technologies. (Unlike HB1619, the bill would have the UTC consider purchases of energy derived from such projects outside the state and investments in them as being “in the state’s interest” if the carbon emissions from them were only booked and claimed in Washington. This bill also specifies that a gas company could claim investments in residential and commercial rooftop solar, including associated battery storage, and in community solar projects as reductions against its cap and invest carbon compliance obligations if it surrendered the renewable energy credits they produced.)

The bill would also create a ten year sales and use tax exemption for machinery and equipment used for generating renewable natural gas or connecting it to a pipeline. (The exemption would also apply to labor and services for installing that.) Renewable natural gas would be defined as what’s generated from “the decomposition of organic material in landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, and anaerobic digesters.”

It would authorize gas companies to propose renewable natural gas programs for the UTC’s review. If approved, a company could supply renewable natural gas as part of the natural gas sold or delivered to their retail customers. The environmental attributes of that renewable natural gas would have to be retired using procedures established by the Commission, though it could also approve procedures for banking and transferring those. (The Commission could also approve the inclusion of other sources of gas if the gas was produced without consumption of fossil fuels. I think this probably includes green hydrogen.)

Unlike HB1619, the bill would provide exemptions from any state or local restrictions or limitations on the use of natural gas in buildings where the amount of gas consumed in the building was equal to an amount of renewable natural gas acquired by the utility serving the site; there was a real estate covenant on the building confirming that only renewable natural would be provided to it; and the utility had certified to the UTC that only renewable natural gas would be “provided to” the building. It would allow dual fuel heat pumps using both natural gas and electricity to be installed in any building for use as a peaking resource alternative under CETA when natural gas space and water heating supplements electric space and water heat pumps in a way that reduces the consumption of electricity when ambient temperatures fall below 40° F.

SB5551

SB5551 – Expanding the Sustainable Farms and Fields grants program to place more emphasis on reducing livestock emissions.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Shewmake (D; 42nd District; Bellingham) (Co-Sponsors King, Warnick, Muzzall, Braun, Short – Rs; Wellman, Salomon, Van De Wege, Hasegawa, Nobles, and Saldaña – Ds)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks February 6th.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
The bill would shift the current grants from the Sustainable Farms and Fields program for equipment purchases to grants for cost-share purchases; and shift recipients of its grants from land-owners to agricultural producers. It would shift the intended distribution of funds from one across crop types and soil management to one across commodities. It would allow conservation districts and other public entities to apply for grant funds to operate equipment sharing programs.

The bill would spell out that the current allowable uses of the grants include practices that reduce soil greenhouse gas emissions as well as those that increase soil carbon, practices that collect, treat, and store manure and agricultural waste to reduce emissions; practices that “increase sequestration in standing vegetation” as well as ones that increase it in soils; and practices that reduce the intestinal emissions of livestock.

It would require funds appropriated through the program for the specific purpose of improving and encouraging climate-smart agricultural waste management and climate-smart livestock management to be used for:
1) Cost-share grants for anaerobic digester development, including projects that codigest manure with other organic waste;
2) Technical and financial assistance for climate-smart livestock management practices;
3) Grants to research institutions for innovative research and for demonstration projects with greenhouse gas emissions reduction benefits, including dairy nutrient management projects;
4) Creating an ongoing advisory committee including specified stakeholders and administered by the State Conservation Commission and Department of Agriculture to inform the agricultural community about opportunities to participate in carbon emissions reduction programs, inform researchers and policymakers of practical implementation challenges, and guide these grant awards, and
5) Creating at least one position at the Commission and other positions as needed with expertise in livestock nutrient management and carbon markets to disseminate information and provide support to agricultural producers applying for funding opportunities.

SB5484

SB5484 – Creating a network of sustainable farms and fields advisors & making minor revisions to the grants program.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Shewmake (D; 42nd District; Bellingham)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks February 6th.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Summary –
The bill would have the State Conservation Commission, which oversees the conservation districts, develop a network of sustainable farms and fields advisors. Groups of conservation districts would hire, host, and share their services. They would provide consultations and develop sustainable farms and fields plans for interested farmers and food processors, helping them reduce their carbon footprint by increasing energy efficiency, utilizing more green energy, sequestering carbon, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The advisors would also inform them about funding opportunities to help achieve these goals, including the Sustainable Farms and Fields grant program. A new staff member at the Commission would coordinate the program, including disseminating information about energy efficiency, climate-smart practices, and funding opportunities; applying for grants; and writing progress reports.

The bill would revise the Sustainable Farms and Fields grant program, shifting from allowing grants for down payments and purchases of equipment to allowing cost sharing for equipment purchases, dropping some details about equipment purchased with grants; and expanding and broadening the current language about the services to farmers the grants might fund.

SB5431

SB5431 – Requiring and funding purchases of zero-emission school buses after September 2035.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Shewmake (D; 42nd District; Bellingham)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education February 1st.
Next step would be – Action by the committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
HB1368 is a companion bill in the House.

Summary –
The bill would require purchasing zero-emission school buses after September 1, 2035. It would create a grant program using any specifically appropriated funding to support school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools purchasing them, and to support purchasing and installing charging stations and associated infrastructure and equipment. To be eligible for grants, buses powered by fossil fuels would have be at the end of their depreciation schedule and eligible for replacement under the current state law about reimbursing districts for the cost of student transportation vehicles. Grants for buses would not be allowed to exceed the purchase price minus any salvage value of the bus being replaced.

There would be a competitive application process, prioritizing grants that provided the greatest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for the amount of state support, and considering expected improvements in health equity for communities of color and low-income communities; and the age of applicants’ fleets. OSPI would also be allowed to consider other factors such as air quality improvements in areas with high traffic congestion. (At the time of an award, a grantee would have to have enough charging infrastructure in place to operate the replacement bus; or have secured enough funding in addition to the grant to purchase and install that.) OSPI would also publish an annual list of Federal grant opportunities pertinent to replacing nonzero emission school buses.