Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center believes it is more evidence that relying on politicians to achieve environmental goals is unwise

Todd Myers
Washington Policy Center

With the release of a new report on the impacts of climate change from the IPCC, Governor Inslee tweeted that, “We must focus on mobilizing every part of our economy in the net-zero transition. State-level leadership in the United States is critical to the implementation of international and national policies.” Despite that tough rhetoric, Washington state agencies routinely miss their own targets to reduce CO2 emission.

Recent data on state EV purchases are the latest case in point. Years after the governor set a target requiring state agencies to purchase electric vehicles (EVs), they are missing that mark badly, even as he highlights the need for “state-level leadership.”

In January of 2019, Governor Inslee announced that he was accelerating the “Washington State EV Fleets Initiative,” requiring that 50 percent of new state passenger vehicles purchases would be electric by Fiscal Year 2020/21. The governor claimed this would “save taxpayer dollars over time, reconcile state agency purchase practices with current law, and help accelerate EV awareness and adoption throughout the state and beyond.”

How did the state do at meeting the governor’s goal?

In 2019, when 20 percent of new purchases were supposed to be electric, just 11 percent of new passenger vehicle purchases by the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) were EVs. In 2020, there were many fewer cars purchased, but only one of the 34 new cars purchased by DES for state agencies was electric.

Like so many other of the governor’s climate promises, the target – despite the claim that it would save money – was missed badly.

As the state returned to normal in 2022, despite a large increase in revenue, state agencies continued to fall far short of the governor’s target. According to DES, only 9 of the 34 passenger vehicles purchased in 2022 were electric. And while 2023 has just begun, there are 568 vehicles currently on order that are expected to be delivered this year. Of those, which include passenger vehicles, trucks, and SUVs, only 143 are EVS – about 25 percent.

While DES is in charge of most vehicle purchases, agencies also make purchases. I asked the Department of Ecology how many EVs they purchased in 2022. The answer: zero. They purchased only 7 vehicles, all of them trucks: 3 Nissan Titan Pro4Xs, 2 Dodge Ram 3500s, and 2 Dodge Ram 2500s. I assume Ecology’s decision to purchase these trucks is appropriate given their potential uses, but it is evidence that arbitrary EV purchase targets don’t make sense.

Despite the state’s consistent failure to come close to meeting the governor’s target, the state has now adopted a rule to require that 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the state are EVs in 2026, increasing to 100 percent in 2035. Through the first two months of 2023, only 10 percent of new passenger vehicle registrations in Washington are electric. We can be certain that the Department of Ecology will strictly enforce that rule even as it continues to ignore its own mandate to purchase EVs.

When reality intrudes on the governor’s arbitrary goals (whether is it 50% by 2020 or 100% by 2035), the rules are ignored for government agencies. For everyone else, however, the rules are strictly enforced, and the consequences are dismissed as necessary to meet those same arbitrary goals.

This isn’t the only example of the state ignoring requirements to reduce CO2 emissions. As the Capital Press noted last year, “For the 13th straight year, Washington state agencies violated a clean fuels law by failing to buy enough biodiesel.”

Rather than acknowledging that the rules have high costs or don’t align with reality, politicians ignore those costs when it doesn’t affect them. Meanwhile, they make excuses as to why they can’t be expected to follow the rules or targets they set for themselves when compliance becomes difficult.

It is more evidence that relying on politicians to achieve environmental goals is unwise. Despite the lofty rhetoric, politicians like Jay Inslee do what is in their interest – ignoring mandates when necessary, enforcing them on everyone else when it sends the right political signals.

Todd Myers is the director of the Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center.