Senate Bill 6092 (S-3844.1) would add a new section to chapter 70A.65 RCW and amend RCW 70A.65.120 to create a special no-cost greenhouse gas allowance allocation for the waste to energy facility identified in RCW 70A.65.080(2). Under the bill the department must allocate no-cost allowances to that facility beginning January 1, 2027: 100 percent of the facility’s reported emissions from January 1, 2027 until the end of the second compliance period; 97 percent at the start of the third compliance period; and a further decline of 3 percentage points each compliance period beginning with the fourth period, measured relative to the initial 100 percent baseline. The bill establishes allocation procedures and timing: the department must make an initial allocation for a year (t) by the end of calendar year (t) equal to the facility’s reported emissions for year (t–1) multiplied by the applicable percentage, and after verification of year (t) emissions the department must either provide additional allowances before the next compliance deadline or deduct any over-allocation from the allocation for year (t+1). The amendment to RCW 70A.65.120 retains and modifies existing provisions on allowance allocation to electric utilities, rulemaking timelines, consignment to auction, use of auction revenues for ratepayer benefit, transfers with power marketing administrations, and limits on free allowances after 2045, and it bars the department from allocating allowances to an electric utility for emissions associated with electricity produced by the named waste to energy facility when that facility receives no-cost allowances under the new section. The bill cites a March 2024 Department of Ecology study as a legislative finding that the state’s only waste to energy municipal solid waste system emits fewer greenhouse gases than the alternative of transporting and disposing of that waste in other communities. The text repeatedly refers to “the department” and to compliance periods and to specific RCW provisions for reporting and other rules, but the extracted material does not identify which department is responsible in each instance, does not name the specific facility beyond the RCW citation, and does not define the start and end dates or numbering of the compliance periods; full effect depends on the referenced statutes and rulemaking not reproduced here.

If enacted, the state's waste‑to‑energy facility would initially be relieved of its greenhouse gas compliance costs because the responsible agency must give it free emissions allowances equal to its reported emissions starting January 1, 2027, with that coverage phased down over later compliance periods. That will lower the facility’s near‑term operating and compliance expenses and likely make local waste‑to‑energy disposal relatively cheaper compared with hauling waste to distant landfills; the agency must allocate allowances based on last year’s reported emissions, verify current year emissions, and then add or deduct allowances to reconcile any differences, creating an ongoing verification and adjustment workload for the agency. The direct winners are the waste‑to‑energy facility (reduced compliance costs) and potentially ratepayers if auction revenues continue to be used with priority for low‑income customers under existing rules; the direct losers are electric utilities, which may no longer receive free allowances for emissions from electricity produced by that facility and therefore could face higher compliance costs or need to buy allowances from auctions. Important details are unclear from the provided text: the bill does not expressly identify which agency must carry out the allocations, it does not name the specific facility beyond a statute citation, and it does not define the exact timing or numbering of the “compliance periods,” so precise financial impacts over time depend on those missing definitions.