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Inslee helps secure $1 million for green initiatives at area utilities

June 25, 2008

The House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill that included a total of $1 million in funding for clean-energy initiatives at two Puget Sound area utilities.

The funding, which came as part of the $33 billion energy and water development appropriations bill, would provide $500,000 each for a Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) geothermal power study and a Seattle Steam biomass system. 

“These projects will help Washington stay on the cutting edge of the clean-energy revolution and meet our goals under I-937,” said Inslee, referring to the initiative he backed and Evergreen State voters approved in November 2006 that set a renewable portfolio standard requiring the state's largest utilities to supply 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.  He requested federal investment for both green projects.  U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) also backed the new biomass system for Seattle Steam.

The Snohomish County PUD study aims to evaluate the potential of harnessing geothermal energy from volcanic regions in the north Cascades to provide renewable electricity for area consumers.  The utility already is a national leader on clean electricity with its efforts to generate power from tides in Puget Sound.

"Congressman Inslee is a leader in promoting new clean technologies," said Snohomish County PUD General Manager Steve Klein.  "His efforts to obtain financial support for PUD research for green, locally-generated energy resources will provide long-term economic and environmental benefits to the citizens of Snohomish County."

Funding for the Seattle Steam project would help the private utility replace a gas-fired boiler with a wood fueled, or biomass, combustion system.   The so-called urban wood waste system would supply the company with over half its thermal energy from a renewable fuel source and would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and the amount of waste sent to landfills.

“Using renewable wood energy to heat downtown Seattle is a win-win-win for our customers, our community and Seattle Steam,” added Stan Gent, the company’s president and chief executive officer.  “We have set out to use a local renewable energy source; urban waste wood, to reduce our carbon footprint by 60 percent, about 50,000 metric tonnes of carbon annually.  This will also reduce our dependence on foreign fuels and will keep money spend on energy within our community.
 
“The challenges this project faced were substantial.  This support from the federal government is a major milestone in reaching its ultimate success and could not have come at a better time as construction is just now underway.”
 
Inslee’s support for green initiatives at Snohomish County PUD and Seattle Steam is consistent with his long term clean-energy advocacy.  As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the House Natural Resources Committee and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, he has promoted policies like his New Apollo Energy Act, H.R. 2809, which would address the environmental, economic and security problems caused by global warming.  Inslee also co-authored a book last fall entitled, “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy.”

The legislation would need to win passage on the House floor and get reconciled with a companion Senate spending bill, which is expected to move through the committee process in that chamber early next month.  Then, it would need final approval from Congress and the president’s signature.