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Public Lands Commissioner urges state legislators to adopt carbon policy to deal with climate change

Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz wrote a letter to lawmakers in Washington asking that they better address climate threats.
air pollution

Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz is urging state lawmakers to adopt a carbon policy that will prepare state lands, forests, waters and local communities to better deal with climate change.

As the legislative session begins Monday, Franz wrote in a letter to legislative leaders saying the climate threats are real, the state is already late in responding and that the state cannot wait to act.

Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to release details of his carbon proposal as the session gets under way. He said last month that he wants a new tax on carbon emissions with some revenue to backfill any state reserves tapped to pay for education.

Franz said in an interview Wednesday that she wants to ensure that money raised will be used to reduce carbon pollution and help make state lands, water and rural communities more resilient to climate change impacts.

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