Environmental coalition outlines agenda for 2008

More urban trees, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and schoolchildren nourished with locally grown food are the priorities of the state's environmental community heading into the 2008 legislative session.

Feeding off their success this year with state lawmakers — environmentalist helped pass all four of their environmental initiatives into law — they have picked four projects with bipartisan support, relatively low startup costs and few obvious enemies. Two of the measures would combat global warming — one at the state level through a crackdown on greenhouse gas pollution and the other at the local level with land-use and zoning changes that encourage cities better served by mass transit.

"The land-use decisions we make today lock us into greenhouse gas emissions for decades," Futurewise political director Aisling Kerins said of developments that convert farm and forest lands to housing.

One potentially tricky piece of the legislation would reopen and amend the state Growth Management Act to make the climate change battle one of the goals of the state land-use law.

"There's always a risk of other amendments when you try to open up the Growth Management Act," noted Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia. "But this one is worth a serious look."

Another bill would try to amend the complex state purchasing laws to make it easier for locally grown food to reach schools, food banks and low-income children.

"Schools are the perfect place to address nutrition and fight childhood obesity," said Mo McBroom, policy director for the Washington Environmental Council.

Legislation to better link local farms with school food programs would support the kind of work the Olympia School District has been trying to do for five years, school district food services supervisor Paul Flock said.

"It's just not as easy as it might seem," he said.

Finally, the environmental coalition seeks to restore and retain more urban trees and forests as a cost-effective way to soak up stormwater and greenhouse gases and provide habitat for birds.

"We want to ensure that the Evergreen State has evergreen cities," Lisa Paribello of Audubon Washington said.

She said only 47 percent of cities statewide have tree laws and 10 percent have conducted tree inventories, the first thing called for in the bill.

"I think it's a great idea — it's where we need to be," Olympia urban forester Joe Roush said.

The combined cost in the second year of the state budget for the four pieces of legislation is $8.5 million to $10.5 million.

The 2007 bills championed with success by environmentalists included Puget Sound cleanup, a ban on toxic flame retardants, a doubling of state grants for purchase of parks and open space, and a package of measures to promote clean fuel technologies.