Gov. Inslee Announces Climate Change Portion of Proposed Budget

Governor Inslee announced the "climate change" portion of his proposed biennial budget.

A total of $428-million in investments…with a bulk of the money targeting transportation.

"We cannot get on top of climate change unless we invest in the biggest sources of pollution. We know that transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in our state. It composes about 45% of our total pollution level."

Inslee contends his initiatives would not only reduce nearly 30-million tons of emissions in the next ten years…but would grown green-energy jobs in the state.

The biggest ticket item on his wish list is 190-million dollars to electrify Washington's ferry system.

"Each new ferry would create 560 family-wage jobs directly and another 890 indirectly. This is just one of the many projects that we intend to build in our state to create jobs in a clean-energy economy."

In addition, Inslee wants to invest $131-million to make homes and businesses more energy efficient…and $55-million aimed at promoting and furthering clean energy technologies.