Building a response to climate change

News accounts of the frightful consequences of climate change are finally being offset by political progress on global warming.

Gov. Christine Gregoire has presented legislators in Olympia with the building blocks for a regional system to roll back greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Washington is part of the Western Climate Initiative, through which several states and Canadian provinces will eventually set a cap on emissions and create an exchange system that allows credits to be traded as business, industry and government work to achieve emission reductions.

The legislation seeks to set emission thresholds that identify who needs to report, establish the protocols that measure emissions, and standardize reporting requirements and procedures — everyone talking the same lang-uage.

An estimated 100 to 150 emitters would be affected by a threshold of 10,000 metric tons of annual greenhouse-gas emissions. Maybe the refinery at Cherry Point comes to mind, but how about the University of Washington's steam plant and Sacred Heart Medical Center?

The No. 1 source of emissions in the region is transportation. The governor's legislation would cover vehicle fleets of, perhaps, 150 to 200 cars — 2,500 metric tons of annual emissions. State agencies would have to comply. So would police departments and school-bus fleets that cross the threshold established in the final legislation.

Lawmakers ought to keep two points in mind: Stay focused on making progress toward the goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions; legislation should not be larded with rewards for past behavior.

Provide business and industry with the help, advice and consultation necessary to make their tasks of compliance and reporting easier. Take all necessary steps to explain, promote and encourage greenhouse-gas reductions.

Reporting on 2009 would start in 2010. These are the building blocks of a model response to global warming.