Washington state legislators are concerned that a $25/ton carbon tax proposed in Carbon Washington’s ballot initiative, I-732, will be too “blunt” an instrument. So they are reviving a more nuanced carbon-pricing plan proposed by the governor. This demonstrates the power of citizens to place climate action pressure on elected politicians, and the need for citizen to keep the pressure up.
Meanwhile, Carbon Washington and the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, which has been considering its own initiative, have achieved a public rapprochement. The two groups have been in some tension, but have now issued a joint statement committing to avoid competing 2016 initiatives. They could build further collaboration by joining in an urgently needed public campaign to illuminate the promise of clean energy and the need for some form of carbon pricing to drive it forward.
Crossposted from Cascadia Planet
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