Senate approves climate change mitigation through growth management

OLYMPIA — Legislation aimed at reducing the carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions of growing communities in Washington passed the Senate today on a vote of 31-18, and now moves to the House for consideration.

Senate Bill 6580 adds reducing climate change as a new goal of the Growth Management Act (GMA) by including elements such as the conservation of protective forest and productive agricultural lands, as well as providing for mixed-use development that supports high-capacity transportation service.

“The Growth Management Act has provisions for things like land use, utilities, transportation, and parks and recreation — but it doesn’t specifically address what growing communities can do to help mitigate for climate change, and I think it should,” said Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, who sponsored the bill.

While Marr believes that we have a moral imperative to protect our environment, he also thinks that these enhancements to the GMA are a practical, fiscally responsible measure that even skeptics of climate change should embrace.

“Poor planning and urban sprawl pass huge costs on to all taxpayers in the form of public works and road projects that are needed to correct for inefficient growth after the fact,” said Marr. “On so many levels this bill is a common sense, fiscally responsible approach to planning.”

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