Washington Department of Ecology rebukes federal climate study, warns of rising risks

The Washington Department of Ecology has fired back at a draft U.S. Department of Energy report being used to prop up the current administration’s rollback of federal climate rules. Ecology didn’t just disagree — it flat-out called the report cherry-picked, misleading, and allergic to peer-reviewed science. 

At the same time, Ecology dropped its own analysis showing that Washington communities are already dealing with climate fallout. 

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“This is not a game – wildfire smoke, heat waves and drought are putting lives and livelihoods at risk,” said Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller. “Denying climate change by cherry-picking information won’t alter the reality on the ground.” 

In a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Sixkiller accused the feds of conveniently ignoring decades of climate research and violating their own standards for scientific integrity. The draft’s conclusions, he noted, are about as aligned with mainstream science as a flat-earth blog. 

Working with the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, Ecology leaned on heavyweight sources including the International Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment and the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fifth National Climate Assessment. Their findings? Hotter summers, more flooding, longer wildfire seasons — basically, Washington as we know it, but cranked to “nightmare sequel” levels. 

Fact-Checking the DOE Draft (spoiler: it doesn’t hold up): 

• Claim: Climate impacts are overstated.
  Reality: Washington has already warmed nearly 2°F since 1900. Extreme heat days could increase ninefold by the 2050s. The 2021 heat dome killed 126 people and sent ER visits through the roof (literally, a 69-fold spike). 

• Claim: Risks to water, energy, and food systems are minimal.
  Reality: Spring snowpack could shrink 40–60% by the 2080s, putting hydropower, agriculture, salmon, and drinking water in the danger zone. 

• Claim: Economic sectors aren’t at serious risk.
  Reality: A marine heatwave recently wiped $641 million from West Coast fisheries. The 2015 drought cost Washington farmers between $630-730 million. Not exactly pocket change. 

• Claim: Emissions barely matter.
  Reality: Science says otherwise. Human-caused emissions are the main driver of climate change. 

Washington has already hit its 2020 emissions target, trimming back to 1990 levels even as population and the economy grew. But Ecology says the next goal — a 45% cut by 2030 — will take more speed and less squabbling. That means tackling super-pollutants like methane, which do way more damage than CO₂ in the short run.