Washington State Sen. Doug Ericksen—chair of the Environment, Energy & Telecommunications Committee—has reason to suspect that Jay Inslee would like to see gas prices rise to $4 per gallon as part of his extreme green agenda. Ericksen explained at a recent Washington Policy Center conference, “For his policies to be successful, he needs high costs at the pump. He definitely wants gas prices at $4 a gallon.”
It’s no secret that Inslee needs high gas prices in order to discourage driving and thereby decrease carbon emissions. But, Ericksen also pointed out high gas prices would significantly help Inslee’s efforts to expand biofuels in Washington State, because “biofuels need a $4-a-gallon petroleum-based gas price to become competitive.”
Inslee’s office denied Ericksen’s suspicions stating, “The senator is wildly off in his estimates… [Inslee’s] policy doesn’t tax gasoline or require a price increase.” How Inslee’s people can assert that false statement with a straight face—when experts all point to an increase in fuel prices—is outrageous.
Then again, our green governor is not known as someone who abides by facts or his word. That’s why it should come as no surprise that, as Ericksen also pointed out, what Inslee said he would do with the revenue of his cap-and-tax scheme one year ago is wildly different than what he proposed last month.
Last month, Inslee’s said cap-and-tax revenue would go toward transportation projects, education, and a tax credit program for working families who cannot afford his expensive tax plan. Just one year ago, Inslee called for “recycling all of the carbon emissions revenue to businesses competing with out-of-state and foreign companies that don’t face the same pollution charges.”
Crosscut speculates that Inslee’s extreme green plans “will likely surface as bills in the Democrat-controlled Washington state House, where a version of the governor’s plan will likely be passed before moving to a Republican-dominated Senate.” That would seem to be an optimistic assumption, given it would take getting 50 of the 51 Democrats in the House to fall in line behind Inslee’s expensive and “risky” tax plans for bills to pass, since no House Republican has indicated any support for his extreme schemes. For his part, Ericksen said that our green governor’s proposal “would receive full hearings in his committee” where it is likely to be dissected for its many hidden controversial concepts.
Speaking of controversial concepts, Crosscut concludes its article on an interesting note. Crosscut,
“Meanwhile, the implications of another controversial Inslee concept — installing a low carbon fuel standard on some (of) the state’s gasoline pumps — won’t be laid out until after the 2015 legislative session is underway and the state Department of Ecology has studied that proposal more thoroughly.”
We eagerly wait what “installing a low carbon fuel standard on some (of) the state’s gasoline pumps” might mean for Washington’s working families. Somehow, we imagine it is something like a pricey $4 per gallon of gas.
Yep just another lieing commie.Thaqt is how they do things you know.