Washington state Governor Jay Inslee (D) is warning residents that the summer of 2022 will be one of “blackouts, destruction, and death” due to climate change.
On June 13, Inslee’s campaign sent an email telling voters in The Evergreen State, “It’s shaping up to be a deadly summer.”
“As the climate crisis worsens, we’re facing the most extreme weather in history,” Inslee claimed. “While Washington state faced the wettest start to the summer in over 70 years, other states are preparing for sweltering temperatures that will catastrophically disrupt our fragile electrical grid. That means blackouts, destruction, and death. Just look at the headlines.”
Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment at Washington Policy Center, accused Inslee of recently implying that he was willing to destroy a significant contributor to Washington state’s energy supply.
“Last week, @GovInslee gave implicit support to destroying the Snake River dams and 8% of Washington’s electricity generation,” Myers tweeted.
Last week, @GovInslee gave implicit support to destroying the Snake River dams and 8% of Washington’s electricity generation.
Today he sent an email warning about electricity shortages this summer. 🤔 #waleg pic.twitter.com/0PN5U436Rp
— Todd Myers 🐟🌲🐝 (@WAPolicyGreen) June 13, 2022
The National Wildlife Federation reported that U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Inslee recently unveiled a “draft report outlining an actionable plan for removing the lower Snake River dams and replacing their services underscores the urgent need to save Northwest salmon from extinction.”
The Center Square’s Washington outlet also recently reported that Inslee’s decision on the dams was “not the first time Inslee has said or done something that seems at odds with making sure Washington’s energy needs can be met.”
The outlet noted that earlier this year, the governor vetoed a bill that would have addressed the “risk of rolling blackouts and power supply inadequacy events.” That legislation had received unanimous support.
In his veto letter to the legislature, Inslee claimed, “Ensuring that our electricity grid continues to reliably provide power to Washingtonians is a priority for me as well, which is why we have multiple state agencies already working on this issue.”
Washington state is not alone in its struggles to maintain a reliable power grid.
In early June, The Washington Post reported that America’s power grid is at risk due to “extreme weather precipitated by climate change” as well as “the early retirement of fossil fuel plants,” which “has accelerated the destabilization ofthe grid.”
Several energy industry leaders told The Post that the rapid transition toward green energy explains why blackouts now threaten Americans.
“Everybody has a good sense of where we want to go in terms of decarbonizing the fleet,” Midcontinent Independent System Operator Chief Executive Officer John Bear recently told the press.“We are moving in that direction. Unfortunately, we are moving in that direction quite quickly and I am worried about the transition.”
An energy economist at the University of Houston, Ed Hirs, also emphasized that there hasn’t been enough investment into green energy for America to fully take the plunge.
“We’ve let our infrastructure decay to the point where we have these failures,” Hirs said. “Somebody has to stand up and start doing something. We have not even addressed what will happen to the grid when every two-car family switches to one plug-in Ford F150 [pickup truck] and one plug-in passenger car. The grid can’t even handle what we have now.”
The comments come as President Joe Biden keeps insisting that the record-high gas prices give Americans the opportunity to partake in an “incredible transition” off of fossil fuels.
