Ecology debunks federal climate report, reaffirms commitment to real science

Today the Washington Department of Ecology issued an official rebuke of a draft report by the U.S. Department of Energy being used to justify the Trump Administration’s rollback of federal climate regulations. At the same time, Ecology also released a new analysis that details worsening local impacts now and in the future due to rising global emissions. 

“Climate change is real. The continued assault on science by the Trump Administration is putting the lives of Washingtonians at risk,” Governor Bob Ferguson said. 

Casey Sixkiller, the director of the Washington Department of Ecology, says the impacts of climate change are already being felt in Washington. 

“This is not a game – wildfire smoke, heat waves and drought are putting lives and livelihoods at risk here in Washington,” said Sixkiller. “Denying climate change by cherry-picking information won’t alter the reality on the ground, where our communities and ecosystems are experiencing the damage firsthand.”  

In a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller explained that the draft report omits decades of peer-reviewed evidence, ignoring legal requirements designed to protect scientific integrity. Its erroneous conclusions contradict the overwhelming scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is a serious threat to the environment, public health, and the economy. 

“This so-called ‘science review’ lacks integrity, ignores current climate impacts on Washington communities, and fails to protect Americans,” said Sixkiller.  

Ecology worked with the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group to analyze the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report and the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fifth National Climate Assessment before it was taken offline by the federal government earlier this year. The resulting report shows that warming temperatures in Washington will result in more extremes that strain infrastructure, hurt local industries, and harm people’s health and safety. We can expect more intense winter flooding, more frequent summer droughts and more severe wildfire seasons.  

Fact-checking Energy’s report 

Ecology’s experts reviewed Energy’s report and found factual errors and inconsistencies with the latest national and international peer-reviewed research. 

Energy’s report claims: climate change impacts are overstated. 

The real science shows: Washington has already warmed nearly 2°F since 1900, and our extreme heat days are projected to increase 6-9 times by the 2050s. The 2021 heat dome was our deadliest weather-related disaster, killing 126 people, contributing to hundreds of additional deaths, and spiking emergency room visits 69-fold. 

Energy’s report minimizes: risks to water, energy, and food systems. 

The real science shows: Washington’s spring snowpack will likely decline 40–60% by the 2080s, jeopardizing drinking water, hydropower, salmon, and agriculture. 

Energy’s report ignores: the ways climate change damages important economic sectors. 

The real science shows: major losses for natural resource- and outdoor-dependent industries. For example, marine heatwaves recently cost West Coast fisheries $641 million, and the 2015 drought cost  Washington’s agricultural sector $633-733 million. 

Energy’s report minimizes: the influence of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change 

The real science shows: human sources of greenhouse gas emissions are unequivocally causing climate change. 

Washington has legal limits on statewide greenhouse gas emissions based on peer-reviewed, validated and credible climate science. Ecology regularly reviews the latest research and recommends whether lawmakers should adjust the state’s limits. Washington achieved its mandate to reduce total emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, despite record population and economic growth, and the state has a suite of major climate policies that promise to reduce emissions further. However, Ecology’s analysis shows that Washington needs to accelerate emissions reductions between now and 2030 to achieve the additional 45% reduction required by law. Ecology’s report draws particular attention to short-lived climate pollutants, like methane, which do far more damage than carbon dioxide in much less time.