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Senate bill would exempt Spokane’s waste‑to‑energy facility from cap‑and‑invest coverage; proponents cite emissions and local protections
Summary
Senate Bill 5703 would remove municipal waste‑to‑energy facilities used by cities and counties from coverage under the Climate Commitment Act’s cap‑and‑invest program; Spokane officials said the change is needed to avoid large local costs and preserve a facility they say emits less than landfilling.
Senate Bill 5703, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Holy and presented to the committee by Senator Marcus Riccelli, would exempt a municipal waste‑to‑energy facility operated as part of a county or city solid waste program from coverage under the state’s cap‑and‑invest program established by the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).
Committee staff explained that the CCA is a market‑based program that requires covered entities to reduce emissions, obtain allowances, or purchase offset credits. Effective January 2027, the program will cover waste‑to‑energy facilities used by city or county solid waste management programs with annual greenhouse gas emissions above 25,000 metric tons CO2e. SB 5703 would establish that a waste‑to‑energy facility used by a county or city solid waste program is not a covered entity; the bill also would exempt such a facility that was permitted to receive solid waste before 1992 from coverage.
Senator Riccelli said Spokane is the only municipal system in Washington currently subject to the CCA and that city and county leaders project the facility could face an estimated $8 million in annual costs beginning in 2026 without relief. “A Department of Ecology study confirmed that Spokane’s waste‑to‑energy facility produces fewer greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change compared to landfills,” Riccelli said, and he asked the committee to consider the bill as an effort to treat like systems consistently.
Mayor Lisa Brown of Spokane testified in support remotely. “The state helped with a $60,000,000 investment to actually build this facility,” she said, adding that the plant was designed to protect Spokane’s aquifer and that the city is studying carbon‑capture options including work with a vendor called CarbonQuest. County and city elected officials, labor representatives and local businesses also testified in favor. James Teakin, speaking for workers at the plant, described the facility’s diversion and recycling functions: it diverts thousands of tons of ferrous metal and reduces waste volume and weight, he said.
Department of Ecology staff briefed the committee on the statutory framework and warned of trade‑offs. Joel Creswell, program manager for Ecology’s Climate Pollution Reduction Program, said municipal landfills were removed from CCA coverage after the Legislature adopted a landfill methane regulation in 2022. “They were initially put into the Climate Commitment Act as covered facilities, but there was legislative intent when the bill first passed in 2021 that the legislature pass a landfill methane regulation, and that on passage of such law, they would be removed. That law then passed in 2022 and they were removed,” Creswell said. Ecology staff also observed that waste‑to‑energy facilities are not subject to the landfill methane regulations and that eliminating the CCA coverage for such facilities would remove one of the programmatic mechanisms that ensures greenhouse gas emissions are addressed across the sector.
Testimony at the hearing included technical and policy arguments on emissions, local water protection and equity in how municipal systems are treated. No formal action or vote occurred during the hearing; a fiscal note was requested but not yet available.
