Inslee wants to raise your gas prices, but he wants your power bill higher too

Determined to be the “greenest” governor in America (and earn all the campaign cash from billionaire Tom Steyer that nickname can generate), Jay Inslee isn’t content to worry just about how electrical power in generated in Washington State. No, he wants to reach beyond our borders – and right into the wallets of Washington taxpayers who will experience higher electricity bills because of Inslee’s folly.

Specifically, Inslee is determined to end “coal by wire,” by which he means coal-fired electricity generated in other states and being transmitted here and purchased by in-state utilities. All three private utilities in Washington buy a small percentage of their electricity from the Colstrip generating plant in Montana.

Of course, electricity is a product that is easily moved around. Power that was slated for Washington’s market will just be snapped up by another locality. Inslee acknowledges the problem, one he and his environmentalist friends call “leakage,” they just don’t have any good ideas of what to do about it. But that won’t stop Inslee from going full-steam ahead on ending coal by wire, though, impact on Washington ratepayers be damned!

The result will be higher-cost electricity for you and less costly power for others states. That’s the type of trade-off we are coming to expect from the “greenest governor”.

So, even though low-cost electricity is the reason some big employers, such as the currently expanding SGL Carbon Fiber in Moses Lake, chose our state in the first place, Inslee is working to undercut our economic competitiveness advantage to pursue his extreme “green agenda.” At least it will make Tom Steyer happy, but then he doesn’t buy his electricity in Washington State.