Shoreline Mayor, City Council join broad support for clean fuels standard in Washington

More than 60 elected officials statewide announce support for low carbon fuel policy

Tuesday, over 60 municipal leaders, including Shoreline Mayor Shari Winstead and the Shoreline City Council, called on the governor and the state to implement a clean fuels standard. In an open letter sent to Governor Inslee, the elected leaders cited job creation, small business growth, and providing consumers more choice at the pump among the benefits of increasing production of clean, low-carbon fuels in Washington.

“Here in Shoreline we’re on a path toward a sustainable, prosperous future," said Mayor Shari Winstead. “Cleaning up our fuels supply is a key part of that path, for the health of our kids and strength of our economy. A Clean Fuels Standard provides for our community and our state a firm commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation fuels in Washington while providing local producers the certainty they need to invest in our alternative fuels economy.”

The letter's signatories represent cities, counties, and ports from across Washington – from urban hubs to rural communities – indicating broad support for pursuing cleaner transportation options. Cars and trucks represent the largest source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in Washington State, and many jurisdictions are eager for state action to complement their local efforts at addressing the problem.

Companies across the state are already hard at work developing clean fuel technology, and the existing agriculture industry is identifying opportunities to supply the raw material for locally-grown clean fuels. A clean fuels standard would reward that innovation and create jobs, while requiring fuel distributors to gradually lower the pollution rates of their fuels over time. That will help keep more of the $14.3 billion Washingtonians spend on fuel each year here at home.

A Washington standard could integrate with successful similar policies in California and British Columbia. Adopting and maintaining low-carbon fuels standards is a key pillar of the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy signed last fall by Governor Inslee along with Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, California Governor Jerry Brown and British Columbia's Premier Christy Clark.

More information here.