How deep is WA Gov. Inslee’s new appreciation for local perspectives? | Opinion

Gov. Jay Inslee wishes the federal government had more respect for local priorities. Many Washingtonians can only hope that’s more than a governor’s passing fancy.

The instigation for Inslee’s interest in local policies is the expansion of a natural gas pipeline from Canada to the West Coast. The pipeline would pass through Washington near Tri-Cities.

In October, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized the expansion, much to the dismay of Inslee and other environmental-minded Western leaders.

The attorneys general of Washington, Oregon and California filed a formal petition asking FERC to reconsider its decision. Inslee supports the request.

Pipeline opponents cite the usual concerns. Fossil fuels contribute to climate change. They are yesterday’s energy sources. They can harm fish, wildlife and waterways. And so on.

You don’t wean a state and a nation off fossil fuels by increasing the supply.

Washington has set the ambitious and probably unattainable goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 95% below 1990 levels.

Most of the critiques aren’t wrong, though they do tend to gloss over the economic and industrial benefits of energy projects. More than one-third of Washington homes rely on natural gas as their primary heating fuel, and many of them also have gas stoves.

Inslee explained the request for reconsideration at a virtual press conference.

“We’re doing so because this FERC decision totally ignores both the legal requirements in the state of Washington and our vision to decarbonize our economy, and wean ourselves off of dangerous toxic methane gas,” he said.

He doubled down on the notion that those who govern should pay attention to what the governed want.

“It is incredible to us that a federal agency would allow a project to move forward which is diametrically opposed to the policies and the laws of the state of Washington,” he said.

Hearing Inslee stump against greenhouse gases is nothing new. But hearing him criticize a federal agency for pushing through a project he says the state doesn’t want is ironic.

Does he now realize how Tri-Citians feel about unwanted projects being pushed on our community? The state’s Puget Sound-based Democratic majority, including Inslee, has forced its agenda on Eastern Washington for a long time.

Tri-Citians don’t want the massive Horse Heaven Wind Farm to mar the Mid-Columbia landscape. One might even say that the project is diametrically opposed to the values of a community that cherishes its rural character and wide-open vistas.

They don’t unilaterally oppose wind turbines, but they do believe that the people who will live near them have a better understanding of where they could best be located.

Will Gov. Inslee now reconsider his support and align himself with the locals who will have to live with the consequences?

There’s also a disconnect when environmentalists oppose a natural gas pipeline but support removing hydroelectric dams.

Removing the dams will increase demand for other sources of energy, and right now green energy alone cannot make up the gap, even if the Biden administration has a secret $1+ billion plan.

Maybe now that Inslee has felt the sting of being ignored by distant policymakers, he’ll have a new appreciation for what it feels like to live in Eastern Washington.

It’s hard to take his complaints that the federal government doesn’t listen to Democrats in Olympia when they don’t listen to so much of the state.