Free Republic

OLYMPIA, Wash — Several lawmakers, including Spokane Rep. Marcus Riccelli, want the state to declare a “climate emergency” and give the governor the power to declare an energy emergency and limit greenhouse gas emissions. House Bill 2829 was read for the first time in Olympia Friday. It states that a climate emergency “threatens our state, region, nation, civilization, humanity, and the natural world.” The lawmakers state that the effects are already being felt and that they “will only intensify without swift intervention.” Those impacts include more intense and frequent wildfires; glacier loss; flooding; drought; dwindling fish runs; insect die-off; Orca...