Environmental studies for clean energy facilities underway

Washington is actively shifting toward a clean energy economy to help achieve its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050. In support of this, last year Ecology published three statewide programmatic environmental impact statements identifying the potential impacts of utility-scale solar, onshore wind energy, and green hydrogen facilities, and ways to avoid or reduce those impacts.

This year's focus

This year, we are working on two new environmental studies that evaluate the potential impacts of alternative jet fuel facilities as well as battery energy storage systems. Alternative jet fuel can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions because it is made from different types of renewable resources including waste fats, oils, and greases, such as used cooking oil. Battery energy storage systems use large, rechargeable batteries to store excess energy and make it available to the electrical grid when needed. Washington is seeing an increase in the use of battery storage to support energy resiliency and the clean energy transition.

Next steps

Scoping is the first step in developing a programmatic environmental impact statement. The purpose of scoping is to narrow the focus of what will be studied in collaboration with agency staff, Tribes, and the public.

We completed scoping for the alternative jet fuel study and released an alternative jet fuel scoping summary report. In brief, we will be evaluating the potential impacts of two types of production facilities and blending and storage facilities built in industrial areas throughout the state. A draft of the study will be released for public review and comment in January 2027. To learn more, please visit our alternative jet fuel webpage.

As an early notice, scoping for the battery energy storage sysems study is planned for September. Once that begins, we will share information about the comment period and meetings on our battery energy storage systems webpage. You can receive updates on both studies, including opportunities to participate, by signing up for our clean energy coordination e-mail list.