Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's plan to put a carbon tax on transportation fuels and power plants has stalled.
Inslee and state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, the main sponsor of Senate Bill 6203, told reporters March 1 that the bill was one or two votes short of getting out of the Senate. The bill made it out of two committees and was on the March 1 Senate calendar for debate.
S.B. 6203 would have set a $12/tonne on carbon emissions starting July 1, 2019. Then starting July 1, 2021, the tax would have jumped $1.80/tonne a year until hitting a cap of $30/tonne.
Money from the tax would have been directed at efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, give assistance to vulnerable communities and increase the resilience of Washington's natural resources to the impacts of climate change.
Inslee made a big push for lawmakers to approve a carbon tax during the legislature's short session, which ends March 8, appearing at a committee hearing in January to highlight investment opportunities and bringing in former Secretary of State John Kerry to rally support.
However, some Republican lawmakers, large industrial energy customers and other business interests worried about the tax's impact on energy bills and Washington's business climate.
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox and Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael also weighed in, telling Inslee that a carbon tax would impose environmental regulations on other states. They also warned that the tax would raise retail prices for consumers outside of Washington served by utilities that get electricity from power plants affected by the fee.
Montana is home to the 2,094-MW Colstrip power plant. The plant has six owners, including Avista Corp., PacifiCorp and Puget Sound Energy Inc., all of which serve customers in Washington.
Inslee told the Associated Press that even though the effort fell short, Washington has shown that "carbon policy is within reach."
Carlyle also took an optimistic stance in an interview with Seattle's KING5 News, noting that while the bill did not make it through the Senate, it still progressed farther than previous proposals. He expects the issue to crop up again, either through legislation in 2019 or via a voter initiative.
Kyle Murphy, executive director of Carbon Washington, said the group will now focus on getting a price on carbon through a ballot measure in November or in the Legislature in 2019. The group led the 2016 campaign for Initiative 732, a ballot measure rejected by voters that would have set an initial carbon tax of $15/tonne.
"Opponents of this bill achieved little beyond a temporary delay in our inevitable trajectory toward a clean energy future," Murphy said in a statement.
Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee said the governor is happy with how far the bill progressed and support it got from a variety of legislators, and leaders from the business, labor, tribal and environmental communities. Lee said there is a "real appetite for addressing climate change in our state," and Inslee looks forward to continuing the conversation with lawmakers and Washington residents.
