Environmental Watch

After the Legislature passed legislation earlier this year to support a regional cap-and-trade effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, environmental activists are now looking to modify the system, increasing the costs and making it less likely to effectively reduce CO2 emissions. The new system puts hundreds of millions, even billions, in the hands of politicians, hoping they will make good decisions about reducing greenhouse gases. The problem with this cap-and-spend approach is that it imposes an enormous new tax increase on Washington residents and rather than encouraging efficiency, will provide incentives for businesses to avoid the system, leading to loss of Washington jobs while doing little to reduce emissions. This month the Environmental Watch looks at the pitfalls of this costly and ineffective new proposal.

Read the full Environmental Watch here