The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the State Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote today rejected Seattle City Light's global warming "offsets" program. It involved compensating for above-threshold City Light-related carbon emissions by paying for, among other things: Princess Cruises using electricity, not diesel, while in port; (county-run) Metro buses using biodiesel; and Dupont Fluorochemicals cutting freon emissions. Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said the actions were not "sufficiently related to the purpose of supplying electricity." Um, yeah.

Instead of using ratepayer funds to appropriate civic virtue, City Light should use the money to fill glaring frontline vacancies, and improve real-time public communications during power outages.