Whatcom County executive joins some state leaders in criticizing PSE's clean energy plans
Mar. 5Plans by Puget Sound Energy to wean more than a million electric customers off planet-warming fossil fuels are not adequate, Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu wrote in a Feb. 24 letter to Washington's Utilities and Transportation Commission.
"This (Clean Energy Implementation Plan) does not address the urgency of the climate crisis and needs to move more rapidly to reduce demand and convert to clean energy," Sidhu wrote in the letter.
Puget Sound Energy, the state's largest energy utility, is required to craft a Clean Energy Implementation Plan under the Clean Energy Transformation Act, a 2019 law mandating electric utilities to supply Washington customers with 100% clean electricity by 2045. That means no electricity can be generated by burning coal or natural gas. Electricity accounts for about 16% of Washington's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Department of Ecology's 2018 inventory.
In his public comment on the draft plan, Sidhu criticized the privately-owned utility for failing to incorporate climate change data into its energy use projections, moving too slowly on renewable energy deployment and proposing years of studies for methods many utilities across the country already incorporate. Similar concerns were echoed in letters sent to the state commission by the King County executive, council members and mayors.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/whatcom-county-executive-joins-some-state-leaders-in-criticizing-pse-s-clean-energy-plans/ar-AAUEmsT