HB 1099 a welcome effort

Kip Hill’s article, “Why don’t we bury the power lines on South Hill?” (Jan. 17) got me thinking. He reports that Councilwoman Lori Kinnear suggests that residents consider solar panels. Wider use of solar panels with storage units would provide reliable alternatives to the current power system on South Hill, reducing the number of wires, and therefore power outages.

This idea is especially intriguing to me. Why not respond to climate change related events with a climate change preventing solution like solar energy for our homes? Over 40% of Spokane’s electricity comes from burning natural gas or coal, which add polluting emissions to the air, and increase severe weather events like the January 13th wind storm. Clean technology is a great job creator, and good for our economy.

Fortunately, our Washington state legislators, including Spokane’s Rep. Timm Ormsby, are currently hard at work to pass HB 1099, a bill which strives to ensure that Washington state amend its current Growth Management Act to both reduce Washington’s carbon output and plan for climate impact scenarios such as wildfires and windstorms. After this month’s windstorm, I could not think of a more welcome climate impact bill at a more suitable time.

Allegra Armstrong

Spokane