Danica Noble

We need to repeal tax breaks for existing and new datacenters. We need to attach requirements to datacenter permitting to better reflect the cost of externalities and to help fund the infrastructure to transition to clean energy. This should include upgrades to our electrical grid to facilitate the significant increase in demand for capacity and transmission from these projects. In terms of evidence, while I was at the Federal Trade Commission I was involved in two non-public investigations related to building datacenters which led to a number of industry interviews and data submissions. In addition, I participated in a 6-month fellowship on excellence in government AI that looked at application, risk, bias, and promise in emerging AI uses. Datacenters are one area, but the environmental impact from AI is much larger than that. I carefully reviewed NYU Stern School of Business report on the state-level approaches to setting regulations, incentives in datacenter construction and other AI ventures, and it offered several insights that would help me build coalitions and proposals to make sure AI technology works for all of us and doesn’t leave our communities and environment worse off.

KEYWORDS: guardrails, balance, science

My top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state are to fully re-fund the Climate Commitment Act dollars and prevent the legislature from raiding that money in the future for non-CCA uses.

Second, I want to help find creative sources to fund the transition our transition to clean energy, for example, from the companies that are most interested in building new datacenters. This includes upgrades to our energy grid by those companies placing the significant newest demands through increased capacity for transmission lines, distribution, and facilities for clean energy integration. In addition, new legal theories are being tried to bring the externalized costs of industry into the business incentives of the companies creating environmental burdens. For example, Right of Nature legal theories could allow standing for species like orcas to better protect their ecosystems.

Finally, as the daughter of two scientists, I believe it is important to ensure we provide ample funding for education and research at our universities, especially in light of federal cuts. We cannot let our future be charted by billionaires alone.

KEYWORDS: restore, responsibility, reinvestment

Literacy, let alone science literacy is at nearly crisis levels in Washington K-12. Currently, 70% of our students are reading well below grade level and comprehension is plummeting year after year. As a fellow at the UW Center for an Informed Public working on misinformation and its effects on markets and our democracy, I am convinced media literacy is essential, but science literacy is a necessary component too often left out. Our schools need space to have different points of view but should be able to build trust around a shared baseline of facts. One way to invest in relationship building early in education is minimizing the time K-5 students engage in screen-based learning to maximize peer-to-peer interactions and experimenting and exploring the natural world. I have spent a lot of time thinking about AI and the future of education, I believe an analog education, especially in the first six grades, will help foster curious students who don’t rely on shortcuts. Above all, Washington can no longer allow the quality of a child’s education to depend on zip code, we need all our students to have the opportunity to build a solid foundation for education including basic reading, writing, math, and science. I am committed to fully funding public education at all levels as one of my key priorities in the legislature.

KEYWORDS: analong, curious, well-funded

After more than 2,000 fires last year, Washington needs a proactive, evidence-based approach to fire risk. I support the Insurance Commissioner’s push for stronger data and transparency, including wildfire risk score disclosure, so the state can better mitigate, and homeowners can better understand their risk. Not all of the fire risk bills passed last session, and we need to move them in the next session. Additionally, we should invest in prevention tools, including responsible use of emerging AI to monitor changing conditions and guide rapid response and prevention interventions in real time. Some scientists have argued we are entering a Pyrocene, or age characterized by fire, I am in favor of significant evidence-led investments to protect the environment, ecosystems, and humans.

KEYWORDS: data, innovation, collective-action

Scientific monitoring is a top priority, including expanded data collection and responsible use of new tools like AI to better track fish populations and ecosystem changes. Effective fisheries management also requires structural collaboration with stakeholders including commercial and recreational fishers and tribal co-managers. We should invest in these partnerships and ensure decisions reflect both scientific expertise and lived experience. In the long-term, the future health of our fisheries depends on addressing climate change. Reducing carbon emissions is essential to prevent large-scale ecosystem collapse and protect our fisheries.

KEYWORDS: partnership, decarbonization, monitoring