Draft Sixth Power Plan Comment

The Northwest is on the cusp of being a national leader in addressing climate change, and improving our health and environment. I applaud the Council's decision to include strong energy efficiency targets in the draft 6th power plan, but we must go farther. We cannot truly protect ourselves from both the financial and social risks of climate change without setting a strong price for the cost of carbon, and we cannot truly solve climate change without taking substantive steps to end our reliance on the biggest culprit in global warming pollution coal. Council staff has performed an analysis that shows the way. The Northwest can become coal free by 2020 in steps that are both achievable and affordable. I am one of those who believe that interim solutions are a necessity. We need energy. It may involve coal. It may involve LNG. But the goal needs to be clean energy which in my view requires nuclear fusion research and implementation not to mention solar. I think wind farms are admirable but do have a limit. The larger solution lies in how we expend energy. Whichever medium we use, we need to be more efficient. It can be done without a diminution of our quality of life.