EXECUTIVE ORDER  69-05

The State of Washington is presently confronted with a shortage of electric generating power which will reach brownout proportions by 1973-74 if immediate action is not taken. Compounding the problem is the fact that nearly all available hydroelectric sites are now in use. This means that the state must turn to thermal sources, primarily nuclear, for the generation of these additional requirements.

The field of nuclear energy is new, relatively speaking, and its potential benefits as well as possible detriments are not fully known and even less understood. I, along with most of our citizens, share a great concern over the future of our environment. We have a number of important state departments of government whose duty it is to protect and enhance the environment. Many of these departments have specific responsibilities set by statute requiring them to protect the quality of our natural resources from possible degradation. Because of the immense complexity of thermal power plant siting, possible harmful effects are difficult to predict and under present statutes a state decision on a proposal might be impossible to achieve. The state needs to speak with a single voice in terms of decisions on thermal power plant sites.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Daniel J. Evans, Governor of the State of Washington, do, by this Executive Order, constitute the Thermal Power Plant Siting Council. The Council will have the following responsibilities:

A. To assemble topical guidelines related to each concern for the environment and natural resource and from these, determine siting criteria or standards specific to any location and the attendant facilities in question.

B. To evaluate each proposed thermal power plant site from the standpoint of these criteria or standards.

C. To advise the state of the council's findings and recommend a prudent course of action.

In general, the policy to be followed by the council in making its evaluation will be based on these premises:

A. To preserve and protect the quality of the environment; to enhance the public's opportunity to enjoy the esthetic and recreational benefits of the air, water and land resources; to promote air cleanliness; and to pursue beneficial changes in the environment.

B. To provide abundant low?cost electrical energy to Washington's citizens.

C. To assure Washington State citizens that operational safeguards are consistent with criteria established by the federal government and within the limits set by Washington State as being technically sufficient for their welfare and protection.

The Council will be composed of the following state agencies:

Department of Water Resources
Department of Fisheries
Pollution Control Commission
Department of Game
Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation
Utilities and Transportation Commission
Planning and Community Affairs Agency Office of Program Planning and Fiscal Management
Department of Commerce and Economic Development
Parks and Recreation Commission
Department of Health

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand and caused the seal of the State of
Washington to be affixed at Olympia this
24th day of July A.D., Nineteen hundred and sixty-nine.

Daniel J. Evans
Governor of Washington

BY THE GOVERNOR:



Secretary of State

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