32 JULY 2018 • FOGHORN PVA GREEN WATERS NEWS With the aid of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Fund emission mitigation settlement, Washington State is converting three of PVA Vessel member Seattle-based Washington State Ferries to electric propulsion, which will substantially reduce the opera- tion’s emissions. A c c o r d i n g t o J o h n Waterhouse, Elliott Bay Design Group, Seattle, WA, who was involved in a comprehensive study to determine the feasibil- ity of vessel conversion, WSF is the state government’s largest consumer of fossil fuels. The EBDG study found that WSF produces 67 percent of the Washington State Department of Transportation’s total emissions and the three Jumbo Mark II vessels emit about a fourth of WSF’s share of carbon emissions. Washington Governor Jay Inslee “wants to go green,” according to Waterhouse, and directed Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar with finding a solution to cut emissions. Millar has met with representatives from Norway, which has been perfecting electric hybridization technologies to reduce significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions. According to Governor Inslee’s office, Norway is a leader in electric ferries. Its first all-electric car ferry has report- edly cut carbon emissions by 95 percent and operating costs by 80 percent. By 2030, the Nordic nation aims to have two-thirds of its ferries run on electricity, a feat Washington aims to emulate. “The people of Washington State are very concerned about climate change. They’re very concerned about greenhouse gas emissions,” Millar said. “We’re moving 25 million people a year on our system, and those three boats are our biggest polluters. They’re at the Washington State Ferries to Convert Ferries to Electric Propulsion From left: Washington Transportation Secretary Roger Millar, Assistant Secretary for the Washington State Ferries Division Amy Scarton, and Kåre Aas, Norwegian ambassador to the United States, talk about electric ferries. Office of the Governor photo.