Last week, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a legislation package that will focus on green jobs to boost the economy and lower the state’s carbon footprint.

The legislation contains House Bill 1819 and its equivalent Senate Bill 5735. Both bills would implement a cap and trade system in partnership with six states and four Canadian provinces, which are part of a coalition called the Western Climate Initiative.

In addition to the cap and trade bill, a proposed $455 million will be invested for projects that emphasize energy efficiency and clean-energy technology. These investments would help support 2,900 jobs for the next two years, according to the Office of Financial Management.

There will be public hearings today and, as Gregoire noted, while congress looks at similar legislation this is Washington state’s chance to move forward as a climate leader. “This is an opportunity for us to kick-start our economy with transportation projects that are shovel-ready and with green jobs that are shovel-ready," Gregoire said.

On a contrarian note, Rep. Shelly Short, head of the Ecology and Parks Committee, commented "I support green jobs, but how many of those blue collar jobs will we lose for green collar jobs?" Well, it doesn’t have to work out that way. Short (sighted) is apparently not shovel-ready. More.

Meeting schedules can be found at leg.wa.gov/legislature.

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