Environmental groups sue Puget Sound Regional Council

Three environmental groups are suing the Puget Sound Regional Council, saying its "Transportation 2040" plan fails to fight global warming.

A state law passed in 2008 requires a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2035 and a 50 percent reduction by 2050, compared with 1990 levels. The regional council — populated by elected officials alongside transit and highway agency leaders — holds purse-string powers to distribute federal money to projects.

The Cascade Bicycle Club, Futurewise and the Sierra Club filed the suit Wednesday in King County Superior Court. They want a judge to require the plan be rewritten, to reduce a predicted 1,000 new road-lane miles, in favor of increased pedestrian, bicycle and transit projects, said David Hiller, Cascade Bicycle's advocacy director.

Julia Patterson, a Metropolitan King County Council member from SeaTac and PSRC transportation chairwoman, wrote this month in a Seattle Times op-ed that the plan "strikes a sensible path," and that cleaner fuels will help attain climate goals.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com