NPI’s Gael Tarleton: Persistence and patience key to state’s big clean energy breakthrough

Edi­tor’s Note: Gael Tar­leton is a found­ing board­mem­ber of the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute who has been work­ing for over a decade to clean up our air, water, and soil — first as a Seat­tle Port Com­mis­sion­er and since 2012 as a mem­ber of the Wash­ing­ton State House of Representatives. 

The fol­low­ing are Gael’s pre­pared remarks cel­e­brat­ing the five pol­lu­tion fight­ing bills signed into law by Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee at a cer­e­mo­ny yes­ter­day in Colum­bia City, includ­ing the bill to set Wash­ing­ton on a path to one hun­dred per­cent clean elec­tric­i­ty, which she prime spon­sored in the House. 

Hel­lo! I’m Gael Tar­leton, State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the 36th District.

Five months ago, I stood up with Gov­er­nor Inslee and my col­leagues in the Leg­is­la­ture and promised to fight to achieve a one hun­dred per­cent clean elec­tric­i­ty stan­dard by 2045. I doubt any of us thought so many cli­mate break­throughs would be made in this 2019 session.

For years, advo­cates fought for the leg­is­la­tion being signed today. They have had no stronger ally in the governor’s man­sion than Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee.

Build­ing momen­tum takes more than a ses­sion. It takes patience and per­sis­tence to build a broad base of support.

Today we cel­e­brate: we cel­e­brate a strong ground game that brought togeth­er indus­try part­ners, envi­ron­men­tal cham­pi­ons, labor lead­ers, com­mu­ni­ties of col­or, bipar­ti­san leg­isla­tive teams, and our constituents.

Today, it is one of the great­est hon­ors of my career to have played a role in help­ing send these trans­for­ma­tion­al poli­cies to the Gov­er­nor’s desk for his signature!

When we move beyond coal and embrace clean ener­gy sources, we get a win not only for Wash­ing­ton State, but for the whole country.

We are cre­at­ing a clean ener­gy econ­o­my for the twen­ty-first century.

If we had crossed the fin­ish line this year with just the one hun­dred per­cent clean elec­tric­i­ty bill, it would have been a huge victory.

But we did so much more.

The leg­is­la­tors and advo­cates fight­ing for real cli­mate action knew that this was our moment to be bold. They brought all voic­es to the table and – togeth­er – defined the poli­cies that change the tra­jec­to­ry of our state.

We must thank them all for these cli­mate breakthroughs…for cre­at­ing new jobs with decent wages… for the tech­nol­o­gy inno­va­tions on the hori­zon that will build a dif­fer­ent future for all of us. Thank you – cli­mate cham­pi­ons, my leg­isla­tive col­leagues, and Gov­er­nor Inslee – for lead­ing us forward.