Two Clark County businesses and Clark Public Utilities will be affected by the Washington Department of Ecology’s new regulations aimed at limiting carbon pollution.
The new rules, adopted Thursday, require the state’s biggest greenhouse gas producers to gradually reduce their carbon emissions over time.
WaferTech, a silicon chip foundry, and Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, a pulp and paper mill, both in Camas, will be affected. Each company will join the program in 2020, or when their emissions surpass Ecology’s threshold, depending on which comes later.
Clark Public Utilities will also be affected, due to the emissions from its River Road Generating Plant.
Doug Moody, local manager of environmental health and safety for WaferTech, said, “WaferTech is continuing its ongoing effort to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and expects to exceed the targets of the new standard without issue.”
On its website, Ecology highlights WaferTech as a success story with its work in reducing pollution and increasing recycling.
Kristi Ward, spokeswoman for Georgia-Pacific, said the company is reviewing the new rule and its implications for the company.
“We remain concerned about how the costs to meet this new regulation will impact the mill’s ability to stay competitive for the long term,” she said.
Lena Wittler, director of communications at Clark Public Utilities, said the utility’s staff is evaluating the new rule to understand its impacts. So far they’ve found the utility will only fall under one regulatory framework at any time.
“We have always complied with legal requirements, and we will continue to do so,” she said.
The rules would affect industrial organizations, including manufacturing plants, refineries, power plants and natural gas distributors that release at least 100,000 metric tons of carbon a year. More companies will be included as the state’s threshold lowers over time.
Ecology released a list of more than 65 state businesses or organizations that would be expected to join the program between now and 2035.
Businesses and organizations that release 10,000 or more metric tons of carbon dioxide per year in the state must report their emissions annually.
