Progressive lawmakers set impossible emissions targets, banned reliable power, taxed energy into the stratosphere, and now act shocked that the grid and the wallet can’t keep up.

Democrat Climate Fantasies Are Crashing Into Reality — Working Families Will Foot the Bill

Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions must plummet in the next three and a half years to meet the aggressive climate mandates Democrats wrote into law — and they still have no workable plan to deliver it.
New modeling shows the state only hit its first 2020 target because of the pandemic, not because the policies worked. The 2030 goal is a far heavier lift. Clean electricity alone cannot close the gap, and the required pace of new clean-energy construction already exceeds anything Washington has managed in recent years.
Transportation, responsible for 40% of emissions, remains the glaring failure. Washington is badly behind on electric vehicles. Of 5.2 million registered passenger vehicles, only a fraction are electric or hybrid. A state rebate program burned through $45 million in two months and still barely moved the needle. Climate activists’ answer is more of the same: bigger subsidies, new surcharges on gas cars, and more revenue from the Climate Commitment Act — the carbon tax already inflating gas and utility bills for ordinary families.
At the same time, data centers are projected to become the single largest source of new electricity demand, potentially requiring several times the power Seattle uses in an entire year. Democrats’ red-tape mean transmission lines needed to move power take a decade to build and largely do not exist. As a result, the state that once exported hydropower will likely become a net importer of energy just to chase its own climate targets.
This is the textbook failure of progressive climate ideology under one-party Democratic control: set radical targets, restrict reliable generation, raise costs through carbon taxes, ignore physical limits, then demand still more sacrifice from ratepayers when the numbers refuse to add up. The rhetoric about jobs and “climate leadership” continues. The infrastructure, the technology adoption, and the family budgets are already falling behind. Olympia’s green agenda is colliding with reality, and working Washingtonians will once again be left paying the price. Read more at the Washington State Standard ([link removed]).

Democrats Pile Into Crowded Race Against Baumgartner With the Same Old Progressive Playbook

Rep. Michael Baumgartner is seeking a second term in Washington’s 5th Congressional District and already faces a pack of a whopping six Democrats and four independents who apparently think Eastern Washington is ready for more progressive governance.
Baumgartner has introduced legislation requiring AI data centers to cover the full cost of the power and water infrastructure they demand — a straightforward attempt to protect ratepayers from subsidizing massive industrial loads. He has also defended tax relief measures and efforts to crack down on fraud in federal programs.
The Democratic field, led by Carmela Conroy (who already lost to him once), is mostly recycling national progressive messaging: warnings that Medicaid changes will close rural hospitals, calls for single-payer healthcare, and criticism of Trump administration policies. One challenger is even motivated by foreign policy grievances over Venezuela and Iran.
Baumgartner leads the money race with more than $953,000 cash on hand. Conroy is heavily reliant on ActBlue, while the rest of the field lags far behind.
In a district that has been trending away from progressive priorities, Democrats are once again offering voters more of the same ideology that has defined Olympia and Seattle for years. Eastern Washington gets to decide in the August primary whether it’s interested. Read more at Center Square ([link removed]).

Spokane Residents Face New Climate Fee Thanks to Olympia’s Never-Ending Green Mandates

The costs of Washington’s climate policies keep finding new ways to hit ratepayers.
Spokane residents may soon see a new $2.75 monthly surcharge (rising to $9 for commercial customers) starting next year to cover compliance costs tied to the state’s Climate Commitment Act. That fee comes on top of planned 3.25% annual garbage rate increases in 2027 and 2028.
The extra charge is linked to the city’s Waste-to-Energy facility and is expected to help cover an estimated $4 million to $8 million in annual CCA-related costs. A typical residential solid-waste bill could climb from about $45 to roughly $57 once everything is factored in. Local leaders have already warned that utility bills could rise by as much as 20%.
Even some progressive council members expressed concern about the cumulative impact on residents already squeezed by higher costs. The lone Republican on the council pushed to keep the climate fee as a separate, transparent line item so ratepayers can see exactly what Olympia’s mandates are costing them.
This is the predictable result of Democratic climate policy: pass expensive statewide mandates, then watch cities scramble to pass the costs downstream to households through higher garbage, utility, and energy bills. Spokane is just the latest community learning that “climate leadership” in Olympia almost always means higher monthly expenses for everyone else. Read more at Seattle Red ([link removed]).

U.S. News Ranks Washington 9th Overall — While Businesses and High Earners Quietly Head for the Exits

Washington landed ninth in this week’s U.S. News & World Report Best States rankings, but dig past the headline and the state’s economic weaknesses become hard to ignore.
As the Washington Policy Center explains, the ranking is heavily weighted toward quality-of-life categories (education, health care, environment) and only lightly weighs the economy. Washington scores well on higher education and natural environment, but ranks a mediocre 19th on economy overall and a dismal 40th on employment. Its short-term fiscal stability ranking? Dead last at 50th.
Even worse, the data lags behind reality. Tax-burden measures still reflect the pre-2025 world — before B&O rate hikes, surcharges, and the new 9.9% income tax. Business-creation figures stop in mid-2025. They do not capture the growing wave of companies and high earners reconsidering their future in the state.
Real-time evidence is clearer. An Association of Washington Business survey found 24% of employers are considering relocating out of state (nearly triple the previous reading) and 55% of business leaders are thinking about moving their personal residences. High-profile exits continue as firms and executives shift to lower-tax, lower-regulation states.
This is the predictable result of years of progressive tax-and-spend governance under one-party Democratic control: raise costs on businesses and high earners, celebrate lagging quality-of-life rankings, and hope no one notices the economic engine is sputtering. Strong schools and scenic views do not pay the bills if the people who fund them keep leaving.
Policymakers treating the U.S. News ranking as a victory lap are ignoring the warning lights. A state that drives away its job creators and high earners cannot sustain either high rankings or high living standards for long. Read more at the Washington Policy Center ([link removed]).

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