Out-of-state fossil-fuel money drowns out local support for key climate policy
Last night in Washington state, Big Oil bought another election and
pushed the world a little deeper into climate chaos. What else is new?
Big Oil’s victory came on Initiative 1631, which sought to put a small fee on carbon pollution in the state. It lost by a significant margin, 56 percent to 44 percent.
The Initiative was hardly a fossil-fuel killer. In fact, it was
distressingly modest: It would put a price on carbon pollution that
starts at $15 per ton in 2020 and rises $2 a year until 2035, where it
would reach around $55. If state carbon targets are being reached, it
would stay there; if not, it would continue upward. This modest fee
(don’t call it a tax!) is far below what most economists believe is
necessary to really have a transformative impact on our energy system,
especially in a state like Washington, which has a lot of clean hydro
power, but it was a start.
No comments:
Post a Comment