SEATTLE - Olympia mayor Cheryl Selby pledged her support for moving the city of Olympia to 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2035.
Selby joins over 140 mayors across the United States who’ve endorsed a goal of transitioning their communities to 100 percent clean, renewable energy through the Sierra Club’s Mayors for 100% Clean Energy initiative. Mayors for 100% Clean Energy is Co-Chaired by Mayor Philip Levine of Miami Beach, Mayor Jackie Biskupski of Salt Lake City, Mayor Kevin Faulconer of San Diego, and Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin of Columbia, South Carolina.
“I am proud to support a vision of 100 percent clean and renewable energy for our community,” Olympia mayor Cheryl Selby said. “And I’m proud to stand with my fellow Mayors from more than 140 cities and towns who see that investing in clean energy means investing in prosperity and a better quality of life for our citizens.”
Mayoral endorsements of 100 percent renewable energy have led to ambitious clean energy commitments in municipalities across the United States. The mayors of St. Petersburg, Florida and Abita Springs, Louisiana issued proclamations endorsing a goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean and renewable energy, followed by the formal adoption of a community-wide goal establishing 100 percent clean, renewable energy as the target for city energy planning.
In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the nation’s large approved a historic resolution that establishes support from the nation’s mayors for the goal of moving to 100 percent clean and renewable energy in cities nationwide.
Olympia gets its electricity through Puget Sound Energy, which is still gets approximately 20 percent of its power from the Colstrip coal plant in Eastern Montana. PSE is the largest owner of Units 3 and 4 of the Colstrip plant, which was the third-largest source of climate pollution in the United States in 2015.
"A vision for 100 percent clean, renewable energy in Olympia and other Puget Sound cities leaves no room for Puget Sound Energy's dirty, costly coal power,” said Doug Howell, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “Western Washington has a responsibility to be a climate leader in the age of Trump, and we can't do that when our largest utility operates a coal plant that is the third-largest source of climate pollution in the country. Transitioning Puget Sounds Energy to get off coal power by 2025 is critical if we are to be a leader in addressing climate change and advancing our clean energy economy.”
PSE’s future use of the Colstrip plant will be discussed at two upcoming public hearings for PSE’s rate case before the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission:
- Today at 6 p.m. at Bellevue City Hall, Room 1E-126, 450 110th Ave. NE in Bellevue.
- Thursday, August 31, at 6 p.m., Richard Hemstad Building, 1300 S. Evergreen Park Dr. SW in Olympia.