The Blog

Governor Chris Gregoire Governor Chris Gregoire

03/17/09

Climate change is the great challenge of our time. Our environment, our economy, our very way of life is threatened by a changing climate.

I am committed to making Washington the leader in developing policies to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why this morning, I testified before the state House Committee on Ecology & Parks, urging legislators to move forward with my comprehensive Green Jobs and Climate Action legislative package.

The current economic situation is frightening and it is very difficult to see past it. But we will work our way to recovery. And when we do, it is critical that we be economically competitive for the long term. 

Leaders will win in the race for the market share of the clean energy economy.  And with that market share come good jobs for Washington families.

President Obama has made it clear that he will work with Congress to develop a national cap-and-trade program.  So at the federal level, a greenhouse gas program is coming. How that program affects Washington is a critical question.  If we lead, we are at the table shaping the program. 

We cannot be another Detroit, where innovation died. We have put ourselves in a great position to lead the great energy transformation.  It has already started.

We didn’t have any wind farms in WA in 2000.   Today we are fifth in the nation with over 1600 megawatts of wind turbines generating more than 2 million megawatt-hours in 2007. 

This is our future, and it’s going to take our combined leadership to get there.