The Brief
- Public records revealed Governor Ferguson’s office delayed releasing a correction for over two weeks regarding a 7.4 million metric ton overestimation of greenhouse gas emission reductions under the Climate Commitment Act.
- State agency officials recognized the severe calculation error immediately and had a public acknowledgment plan ready, but the governor’s office held the release until after a conservative policy center exposed the mistake.
- The delay highlights an operational policy requiring gubernatorial approval for agency communications, which critics argue acts as an inefficient roadblock to sharing timely, critical information with the public.
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Governor Ferguson’s Office delayed the public release of a major correction regarding state carbon emission reductions by more than two weeks, according to public records obtained by news outlet Axios.
The administrative hold masked a severe math error in evaluating Washington’s Climate Commitment Act.
State officials initially claimed cap-and-trade funded projects had reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 8.6 million metric tons, when the true figure was 1.2 million metric tons.
WA’s botched climate law numbers
Axios reporter Melissa Santos said public records revealed state agencies had a correction strategy ready to deploy weeks before it was cleared.…