Environment Washington

Parent Organizations

Environment Washington is the Washington state program of the 501(c)(4) organization Environment America. It is not a separate entity, and its staff appear to work on other state projects and issues. ⁴

Environment America works across 30 states to promote left-of-center environmental issues, especially concern about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. It relatedly opposes the use of conventional fuels and promotes the use of weather-dependent energy generation sources like wind and solar. ⁵

Environment Washington and the larger Environment America network are affiliated with the Public Interest Network. This group provides pooled resources for its projects and affiliated groups that are largely focused on left-of-center environmental issues. ⁵

Finances

As a project of Environment America, Environment Washington does not provide disaggregated financial information and Environment America does not break its budget down on a state level. Overall, Environment America had a budget for the fiscal year ending June 2023 of $14,556,277, with $7,736,075 in expenses, net income of $6,820,202, and net assets of $52,560,642. ⁶

Environment Washington has a 501(c)(3) partner organization in the form of the Environment Washington Research and Policy Center, which is a sub-unit within the Environment America Research and Policy Center. ⁷

Projects

Environment Washington is focused on environmental issues in Washington state and the Pacific northwest from a left-of-center perspective. It opposes both nuclear power and conventional fuels and pressures investors to divest from fossil fuel production with the goal of ending their use entirely. ^{3 1 8}

In August 2025, Environment Washington’s priority issues include advocating more staffing at national parks, opposing the sale of federal public lands, and opposing opening undeveloped federal land to the building of roads and logging. It also campaigns for people to drive less, to adopt electric vehicles, and for the replacement of all energy generation including zero-emission nuclear power with weather-dependent sources including offshore wind and solar. ^{9 3 1 8 2}

Leadership

Emily Rusch is the vice-president and the senior director of state offices for the Public Interest Network and is the most senior staff listed on Environment Washington’s leadership page. She has worked with the Public Interest Network since 2001 and is based in the group’s California office. ¹⁰

The only staff member specifically noted as being affiliated with Environment Washington is Ian Giancarlo, who is an ocean-focused activist based in Oregon. ¹¹