Let's Not Sink our Good Fortune

Medically, we all know what myopia is all about. Things up close look clear but distant objects are blurred and ignored.  Political judgment can suffer a similar phenomenon - and does it ever.

Case in point is the troubling concern about our ferry system from various journalists and interest groups. They tirelessly bemoan that the 2025 hybrid ferry boat contract went to an out of state bidder who happened to be 30% ($350 million) lower than a single in state boat builder (Nichols). They also focus on the uncertainty of a newer hybrid/electric propulsion technology and the danger of cost overruns. I’d love to see Nichols get the ferry bid and grow that industry locally, but if experience and cost are metrics, well you can’t have it both ways. 

What facts has myopia obscured? The electrification of the ferry system is projected to decrease carbon dioxide emissions by 76%, sulfur oxides by 75%, and nitrous oxide by 94% by 2040. A ferry boat currently burns 1 million gallons of diesel per year. With ferry electrification, we’ll see a 90% green-house gas reduction per year. This strikes me as important because, as 98% of climate scientists confirm, we are now in a climate crisis caused by excess greenhouse emissions.

Also obscured by editorializers is how those new boats will get funded. 37.4% of the current $1.68 billion in new ferry boat funding comes from climate-related sources such as the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and other climate-related grants. The CCA was passed in 2021 and puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions thru a unique cap (emissions) and trade (credits) mechanism which returns around $1 billion to the State treasury per year from our largest polluters.  Go Washington!

Jerry Cornfield (Everett editorial writer often published locally) wrote an opinion on ferry funding woes (7/11/25) with a mere handful of words devoted to the climate benefits described above. Important considerations were also deemphasized in a similar publication last Spring.  

I’m looking for a professional editorialist to write a comprehensive examination of all facets of these complex subjects, not a seemingly partisan myopic distraction.  We deserve better.

Dean  Enell - South Whidbey