OLYMPIA, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Washington Department of Ecology is rejecting a federal draft report that it says downplays climate change, calling it misleading and inaccurate.
Ecology says the U.S. Department of Energy’s findings ignore decades of research and are being used to justify rolling back climate rules.
“Climate change is real. The continued assault on science by the Trump Administration is putting the lives of Washingtonians at risk,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said.
Ecology also released new analysis that shows Washington has already warmed nearly two degrees since 1900, with extreme heat days projected to increase up to ninefold by the 2050s.
The report warns of more intense flooding in the winter, more summer droughts and more severe wildfire seasons.
“This is not a game – wildfire smoke, heat waves and drought are putting lives and livelihoods at risk here in Washington,” said Casey Sixkiller, director of the Washington Department of Ecology. “Denying climate change by cherry-picking information won’t alter the reality on the ground, where our communities and ecosystems are experiencing the damage firsthand.”
It also detailed the billions of dollars that have been lost from events like the 2015 drought and recent marine heatwaves.
Ecology pinpoints human-caused greenhouse gas emissions as the driver of those impacts and says the state must speed up emission cuts to meet its goals for 2030.
