Senator Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens) was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee as Secretary of State for Washington, leaving the Legislature and his role as Chairman of the Senate Transport Committee.

Hobbs will serve as Secretary of State until the general election next November after outgoing Secretary Kim Wyman accepted a post in the Biden administration. Hobbs wielded influence in negotiating transport legislation and held his seat on a moderate Democratic platform.

During a round table on decarbonisation organized by Clean and prosperous Washington On Wednesday, just hours after the appointment was announced, Hobbs addressed his appointment and gave advice to his successor on the transport committee.

“If you want to improve the quality of life in Washington state, you have to improve the environment in Washington state,” Hobbs said. “You have to see it holistically. ”

That improvement comes by working to decarbonize transportation, improve fish and salmon habitat, and focus on restoring the environment, Hobbs said.

The federal infrastructure bill passed last week will bring billions of dollars to the state that can be used to remove fish passage culverts, an expensive and long-standing project required by the state. Hobbs said addressing the challenges salmon face has the potential to make the biggest difference in environmental policy.

Hobbs also encouraged the new committee chair to prioritize bipartisanship in the role.

“I hope whoever is in the chair is someone who understands that you have to work across the aisle,” Hobbs said.

Hobbs is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Washington State National Guard and has represented the 44th Legislative District in the State Senate since 2007. Hobbs will be the first person of color to serve as Washington Secretary of State.

On decarbonization

Transport is integrally linked to decarbonization. In Washington, the transportation sector accounts for nearly 45% of all greenhouse gas emissions, the largest single sector. In the last session, the legislature adopted the Clean fuel standard, which requires fuel supplies to reduce the carbon intensity of their fuels to 20% below 2017 levels by 2038.

Much of the discussion during the decarbonization panel focused on ways to reduce emissions from school transportation, freight and trucking.

Raymond K. Manalo, Jr., responsible for vehicle maintenance for the Twin Rivers Unified School District, said his district manages the largest fleet of electric school buses in North America, which serves 61 schools and some 27,000 students, about 5,000 of whom take their buses.

The district has 43 electric buses, 36 natural or renewable gas buses, four gasoline buses and 65 diesel buses. Manalo said what made its electric bus fleet successful was a process of identifying stakeholders and goals, including student needs, air district requirements, and state goals.

An important consideration was the infrastructure for electric buses. Manalo said during planning that they didn’t look far enough into the future and ran out of power as soon as they got the electric buses. They are currently working on infrastructure to facilitate 82 bus costs and share electricity with a sports complex.

“Plan for the future,” Manalo said, and create more infrastructure – pipes, cables, energy – than seems necessary.

The deployment of electric vehicles will require significant investments in charging infrastructure, both for industrial and personal use. To really decarbonize electric vehicles, the electrical network that charges them must also run on cleaner fuels.

The cost of electric vehicles is also an issue businesses and ports are thinking about. Gladys Gillis, CEO of Starline Collection, a charter bus company, said a new gasoline-powered bus sells for around $ 560,000. An electrical equivalent can exceed more than $ 1.1 million.

It’s a problem Fred Felleman, chair of the Seattle Port Commission, said he sees as well. Gasoline dump trucks can be purchased for around $ 50,000, but a similar Tesla truck can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, well beyond the reach of many truck owners and drivers.

Hobbs said it was also possible to expand and support freight rail transport in the state, especially by improving short rail lines. He underlined the PCC line in eastern Washington state, where parts of the rail are nearly 100 years old and in need of replacement. The maximum speed of this line is eight mph.

The upgrade to class two rails would allow trains to travel at up to 20 mph, doubling the amount of freight they could carry and removing hundreds of diesel trucks from the roads, Hobbs said.

Lawmakers have signaled that during the legislative session of 2022, they will focus on implementing several climate laws that have been passed in recent years. Senator Reuven Carlyle said in a recent interview that he will focus on the effective implementation of the HEAL Act, the Climate Commitment Act and the Clean Fuels Standard.

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