A Washington State Senate committee has voted to advance House Bill 1589 that has implications for current and future natural gas customers in Puget Sound, while critics say the full costs to ratepayers and taxpayers needs further examination.
“It’s not looking at what the cost is going to be when it becomes fully implemented,” Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, told colleagues at the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology’s Friday executive session . “That is a significant cost that will be borne by taxpayers across the state.”
MacEwen unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill so that the state Utilities and Transportation Commission would have to study the cost for large utility customers to switch from natural gas to clean electricity and report back to the Legislature.
He said that the bill’s fiscal note does not account for all the costs for the state and should be fixed in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
Also speaking against the bill was Sen. Shelly Short, R-Addy, who told colleagues that “we’ve never peeled back the onion” regarding the bill’s true costs. “There are fundamental things that are being changed.”