On Friday, Jay Inslee will head to Paris in order to attend an international conference on climate change. According to Inslee, he will “show the state’s commitment to combat what he calls the ‘the scourge’ of climate change.”
Our nation’s greenest governor will be part of a U.S. State Department delegation. However, in a twist that we assume came as a disappointment, Inslee has been left out of the actual negotiations involving representatives of more than 190 nations.
Much like our state lawmakers during the 2015 legislative session, we can only assume that someone at the State Department saw Inslee more as a liability than a potential help.
Instead of taking part in the grown-ups’ talk, Inslee plans to spend most of his four-day trip attending various meetings. During these meetings, Inslee says he’ll “talk about Washington’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, learn what’s happening elsewhere and check in with companies interested in doing business in Washington state.” In other words, Inslee’s staff managed to convince a handful of people to meet with our green governor in order to make it look like he has something important to do.
Jay Manning, former Washington State Department of Ecology Director and President of the Washington Environmental Council will join Inslee on his trip. That’s the same Jay Manning who financially benefitted from shady contracts with extreme “green” organizations while advising Jay Inslee on his own extreme environmental policies.
Georgetown University’s climate center is covering trip costs for Inslee. We assume our green governor has found some solace in that after being left out of the negotiations room.
