(1) Since the 1950s, sulfur hexafluoride has been the insulator of choice for electrical equipment installed along the electric grid because of its specific dielectric and arc-quenching properties. However, according to the United States environmental protection agency, sulfur hexafluoride is also an extremely potent, synthetic greenhouse gas that is at least twenty-two thousand eight hundred times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over one hundred years and can remain in the atmosphere for up to three thousand two hundred years.

(2) Chapter 288, Laws of 2019, also known as the Washington clean energy transformation act, establishes that it is the policy of the state to eliminate coal-fired electricity by 2025, transition the state's electricity supply to one hundred percent carbon-neutral by 2030, and achieve one hundred percent carbon-free electricity by 2045. Section 25, chapter 288, Laws of 2019 establishes a legislative finding that, based on current technology, there will likely need to be upgrades to electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure across the state to meet these specified goals. Such infrastructure upgrades may include upgrades to, or increased deployment of, transformers, switchgear, and other electrical equipment necessary to facilitate the safe and reliable integration of decentralized renewable and nonemitting resources into the electric grid. This electrical equipment is most likely to be insulated using sulfur hexafluoride gas.

(3) The department of ecology is required under RCW 70.235.020 to report to the governor and the legislature on the state's greenhouse gas emissions every two years, using 1990 as a baseline and delineated according to major source sector. In addition to its biennial report, the department of ecology maintains a regularly updated greenhouse gas reporting map and database on its internet web site. According to this database, in 2017, Washington's largest reporting emitters of sulfur hexafluoride emitted the equivalent of forty-eight thousand metric tons of carbon dioxide. However, this does not account for the potential emissions represented by the volume of sulfur hexafluoride currently stored in electrical equipment across the state, which can occur through leaks in equipment seals and during equipment manufacturing, installation, servicing, and disposal.

(4) Today's electric power grid is a complex network of electric generation facilities, transmission and distribution infrastructure, end-use customers, and customer-generators. As electric utilities across the state deploy more gas-insulated electrical equipment to meet the requirements established by the Washington clean energy transformation act, so the volume of sulfur hexafluoride stored statewide will increase. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to account for the full environmental cost of Washington's clean energy transformation by inventorying and reducing statewide sulfur hexafluoride emissions potential.

(iii) By 2050, the state will do its part to reach global climate stabilization levels by reducing overall emissions to fifty percent below 1990 levels, or seventy percent below the state's expected emissions that year.

(b) By December 1, 2008, the department shall submit a greenhouse gas reduction plan for review and approval to the legislature, describing those actions necessary to achieve the emission reductions in (a) of this subsection by using existing statutory authority and any additional authority granted by the legislature. Actions taken using existing statutory authority may proceed prior to approval of the greenhouse gas reduction plan.

(ii) Track progress toward meeting the emission reductions established in this subsection, including the results from policies currently in effect that have been previously adopted by the state and policies adopted in the future, and report on that progress.

(2) By December 31st of each even-numbered year beginning in 2010, the department and the department of ((community, trade, and economic development))commerce shall report to the governor and the appropriate committees of the senate and house of representatives the total emissions of greenhouse gases for the preceding two years, and totals in each major source sector. The department shall ensure the reporting rules adopted under RCW 70.94.151 allow it to develop a comprehensive inventory of emissions of greenhouse gases from all significant sectors of the Washington economy.

(3) Except for purposes of reporting, emissions of carbon dioxide from industrial combustion of biomass in the form of fuel wood, wood waste, wood by-products, and wood residuals shall not be considered a greenhouse gas as long as the region's silvicultural sequestration capacity is maintained or increased.

(4)(a) The report required under subsection (2) of this section must include an assessment of the total volume of sulfur hexafluoride stored in gas-insulated electrical equipment in the state. The report must delineate the total volume of sulfur hexafluoride stored in gas-insulated electrical equipment used for electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. The report must also provide the amount, in metric tons, of potential carbon dioxide equivalent emissions represented by the total volume of sulfur hexafluoride stored in gas-insulated electrical equipment in the state.

(b) For the purposes of this subsection, "gas-insulated electrical equipment" means all electrical power system equipment insulated with sulfur hexafluoride gas, including but not limited to switches, stand-alone gas-insulated equipment, and any combination of electrical disconnects, fuses, electrical transmission lines, transformers, or circuit breakers used to isolate gas-insulated electrical power system equipment.

(1) "Allocation of electricity" means, for the purposes of setting electricity rates, the costs and benefits associated with the resources used to provide electricity to an electric utility's retail electricity consumers that are located in this state.

(4) "Auditor" means: (a) The Washington state auditor's office or its designee for utilities under its jurisdiction under this chapter that are consumer-owned utilities; or (b) an independent auditor selected by a utility that is not under the jurisdiction of the state auditor and is not an investor-owned utility.

(5)(a) "Biomass energy" includes: (i) Organic by-products of pulping and the wood manufacturing process; (ii) animal manure; (iii) solid organic fuels from wood; (iv) forest or field residues; (v) untreated wooden demolition or construction debris; (vi) food waste and food processing residuals; (vii) liquors derived from algae; (viii) dedicated energy crops; and (ix) yard waste.

(b) "Biomass energy" does not include: (i) Wood pieces that have been treated with chemical preservatives such as creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome-arsenic; (ii) wood from old growth forests; or (iii) municipal solid waste.

(b)(i) "Coal-fired resource" does not include an electric generating facility that is included as part of a limited duration wholesale power purchase, not to exceed one month, made by an electric utility for delivery to retail electric customers that are located in this state for which the source of the power is not known at the time of entry into the transaction to procure the electricity.

(9) "Conservation and efficiency resources" means any reduction in electric power consumption that results from increases in the efficiency of energy use, production, transmission, or distribution.

(10) "Consumer-owned utility" means a municipal electric utility formed under Title 35 RCW, a public utility district formed under Title 54 RCW, an irrigation district formed under chapter 87.03 RCW, a cooperative formed under chapter 23.86 RCW, or a mutual corporation or association formed under chapter 24.06 RCW, that is engaged in the business of distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.

(11) "Demand response" means changes in electric usage by demand-side resources from their normal consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of electricity, or to incentive payments designed to induce lower electricity use, at times of high wholesale market prices or when system reliability is jeopardized. "Demand response" may include measures to increase or decrease electricity production on the customer's side of the meter in response to incentive payments.

(13) "Distributed energy resource" means a nonemitting electric generation or renewable resource or program that reduces electric demand, manages the level or timing of electricity consumption, or provides storage, electric energy, capacity, or ancillary services to an electric utility and that is located on the distribution system, any subsystem of the distribution system, or behind the customer meter, including conservation and energy efficiency.

(a) Energy assistance includes, but is not limited to, weatherization, conservation and efficiency services, and monetary assistance, such as a grant program or discounts for lower income households, intended to lower a household's energy burden.

(b) Energy assistance may include direct customer ownership in distributed energy resources or other strategies if such strategies achieve a reduction in energy burden for the customer above other available conservation and demand-side measures.

(18)(a) "Energy transformation project" means a project or program that: Provides energy-related goods or services, other than the generation of electricity; results in a reduction of fossil fuel consumption and in a reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases attributable to that consumption; and provides benefits to the customers of an electric utility.

(i) Home weatherization or other energy efficiency measures, including market transformation for energy efficiency products, in excess of: The target established under RCW 19.285.040(1), if applicable; other state obligations; or other obligations in effect on May 7, 2019;

(A) Equipment on an electric utility's transmission and distribution system to accommodate electric vehicle connections, as well as smart grid systems that enable electronic interaction between the electric utility and charging systems, and facilitate the utilization of vehicle batteries for system needs;

(iv) Investments in equipment for renewable natural gas processing, conditioning, and production, or equipment or infrastructure used solely for the purpose of delivering renewable natural gas for consumption or distribution;

(v) Contributions to self-directed investments in the following measures to serve the sites of large industrial gas and electrical customers: (A) Conservation; (B) new renewable resources; (C) behind-the-meter technology that facilitates demand response cooperation to reduce peak loads; (D) infrastructure to support electrification of transportation needs, including battery and fuel cell electrification; or (E) renewable natural gas processing, conditioning, or production; ((and))

(vii) Investments in leak detection and repair, equipment refurbishment, new equipment, gas recycling, improved gas handling, and other projects and programs that reduce emissions of sulfur hexafluoride from gas-insulated electrical equipment during the equipment's useful life and when retired from service.

(20) "Governing body" means: The council of a city or town; the commissioners of an irrigation district, municipal electric utility, or public utility district; or the board of directors of an electric cooperative or mutual association that has the authority to set and approve rates.

(21) "Greenhouse gas" includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and any other gas or gases designated by the department of ecology by rule under RCW 70.235.010.

(22) "Greenhouse gas content calculation" means a calculation expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent and made by the department of ecology, in consultation with the department, for the purposes of determining the emissions from the complete combustion or oxidation of fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas emissions in electricity for use in calculating the greenhouse gas emissions content in electricity.

(23) "Highly impacted community" means a community designated by the department of health based on cumulative impact analyses in RCW 19.405.140 or a community located in census tracts that are fully or partially on "Indian country" as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1151.

(24) "Investor-owned utility" means a company owned by investors that meets the definition of "corporation" in RCW 80.04.010 and is engaged in distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.

(25) "Low-income" means household incomes as defined by the department or commission, provided that the definition may not exceed the higher of eighty percent of area median household income or two hundred percent of the federal poverty level, adjusted for household size.

(26)(a) "Market customer" means a nonresidential retail electric customer of an electric utility that: (i) Purchases electricity from an entity or entities other than the utility with which it is directly interconnected; or (ii) generates electricity to meet one hundred percent of its own needs.

(28)(a) "Nonemitting electric generation" means electricity from a generating facility or a resource that provides electric energy, capacity, or ancillary services to an electric utility and that does not emit greenhouse gases as a by-product of energy generation.

(29)(a) "Nonpower attributes" means all environmentally related characteristics, exclusive of energy, capacity reliability, and other electrical power service attributes, that are associated with the generation of electricity, including but not limited to the facility's fuel type, geographic location, vintage, qualification as a renewable resource, and avoided emissions of pollutants to the air, soil, or water, and avoided emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

(b) "Nonpower attributes" does not include any aspects, claims, characteristics, and benefits associated with the on-site capture and destruction of methane or other greenhouse gases at a facility through a digester system, landfill gas collection system, or other mechanism, which may be separately marketable as greenhouse gas emission reduction credits, offsets, or similar tradable commodities. However, these separate avoided emissions may not result in or otherwise have the effect of attributing greenhouse gas emissions to the electricity.

(30) "Qualified transmission line" means an overhead transmission line that is: (a) Designed to carry a voltage in excess of one hundred thousand volts; (b) owned in whole or in part by an investor-owned utility; and (c) primarily or exclusively used by such an investor-owned utility as of May 7, 2019, to transmit electricity generated by a coal-fired resource.

(31) "Renewable energy credit" means a tradable certificate of proof of one megawatt-hour of a renewable resource. The certificate includes all of the nonpower attributes associated with that one megawatt-hour of electricity and the certificate is verified by a renewable energy credit tracking system selected by the department.

(33) "Renewable natural gas" means a gas consisting largely of methane and other hydrocarbons derived from the decomposition of organic material in landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, and anaerobic digesters.

(34) "Renewable resource" means: (a) Water; (b) wind; (c) solar energy; (d) geothermal energy; (e) renewable natural gas; (f) renewable hydrogen; (g) wave, ocean, or tidal power; (h) biodiesel fuel that is not derived from crops raised on land cleared from old growth or first growth forests; or (i) biomass energy.

(b) "Retail electric customer" does not include, in the case of any electric utility, any person or entity that purchases electricity exclusively from carbon-free and eligible renewable resources, as defined in RCW 19.285.030 as of January 1, 2019, pursuant to a special contract with an investor-owned utility approved by an order of the commission prior to May 7, 2019.

(36) "Retail electric load" means the amount of megawatt-hours of electricity delivered in a given calendar year by an electric utility to its Washington retail electric customers. "Retail electric load" does not include:

(a) Megawatt-hours delivered from qualifying facilities under the federal public utility regulatory policies act of 1978, P.L. 95-617, in operation prior to May 7, 2019, provided that no entity other than the electric utility can make a claim on delivery of the megawatt-hours from those resources; or

(b) Megawatt-hours delivered to an electric utility's system from a renewable resource through a voluntary renewable energy purchase by a retail electric customer of the utility in which the renewable energy credits associated with the megawatt-hours delivered are retired on behalf of the retail electric customer.

(37) "Thermal renewable energy credit" means, with respect to a facility that generates electricity using biomass energy that also generates thermal energy for a secondary purpose, a renewable energy credit that is equivalent to three million four hundred twelve thousand British thermal units of energy used for such secondary purpose.

(38) "Unbundled renewable energy credit" means a renewable energy credit that is sold, delivered, or purchased separately from electricity. All thermal renewable energy credits are considered unbundled renewable energy credits.

(41) "Gas-insulated electrical equipment" means all electrical power system equipment insulated with sulfur hexafluoride gas including, but not limited to, switches, stand-alone gas-insulated equipment, and any combination of electrical disconnects, fuses, electrical transmission lines, transformers, or circuit breakers used to isolate gas-insulated electrical power system equipment.