It should come as no surprise to anyone that gas prices in Washington are going up. The Climate Commitment Act’s cap-and-trade program went into effect in January, and by June, our state had earned the dubious distinction of having the highest gas prices in the country for the first time ever. This is no coincidence. […]
Opinion
Editorial: When it comes to high fuel prices, Washington tries harder
Back in 1962, Avis Car Rental tried to turn its position as the country’s second-largest rental agency into a positive by adopting as its slogan, “We try harder.” A whole ad campaign was adopted carrying various taglines along the theme of “We’re Number 2, we try harder.” We’ve often thought of those advertisements as we […]
WA lawmakers must fix carbon program that’s hiking gas prices
Washington state now has the highest gas prices in the country and there’s no doubt the price at the pump is hurting families. People living in rural parts of the state, especially, can’t change their driving habits on a whim. If they live 20 miles away from town, taking public transportation isn’t an option. And […]
On the road between ‘hogwash and baloney’ on WA’s high gas prices
“The oil and gas industry projections around any of this are halfway between hogwash and baloney.” This was Gov. Jay Inslee, last winter, talking about the prospect that the state’s new climate change policy would cause a significant rise in gasoline prices. “This is going to have a minimal impact, if any. Pennies. We are […]
We Asked for High Gas Prices? — We Got ’em
Washington now has the highest gasoline prices of all 50 states, the Seattle Times reported June 21. The story was broken the day before by the San Diego Union, which offered it as a good-news story: California’s prices were no longer the highest. … The newspaper stories say the cause of the high prices in […]
Ecology quietly scrubs the gas price impacts of CO2 tax from their web page
Even as Washington’s gas prices have increased compared to neighboring states, staff at the Washington State Department of Ecology have repeatedly downplayed the impact of the state’s new tax on CO2 emissions. Last year, when asked about the impact on gas and diesel, Governor Inslee claimed, “This is going to have a minimal impact, if […]
Proposed budget spends more than half of climate funding on expanding government, not climate projects
The Democrats in the State House released their proposed budget and outlined how $306 million of the revenue from the state’s new CO2 tax will be used in the 2023-25 biennium. An examination of the budget line items shows that more than half of the expenditure goes to expanding government functions – planning, permitting, staffing, […]
Editorial: Carbon credit auction is a perilous experiment
Anyone who maintains that Washington’s carbon credit mandate will have a minimal impact on consumers need only look at the results of the first auction. The take — $299.7 million — was 50% higher than the state had estimated. Some 6.18 million carbon allowances sold for $48.50 each, the Department of Ecology announced one week […]