Jay Inslee took time away from this week’s “Watch Your Wallet” press conferences tour to announce his plan to ignore the legislature while implementing his gas-price raising fuel mandate scheme. And, in the ultimate insult to his fellow elected officials, Inslee told them he would not be asking them to vote on his plans, instead informing them of how he “will proceed with further consideration of a clean fuel standard” using the bureaucracy to run the show.
Inslee’s letter begins by claiming that his Office of Financial Management (OFM) “completed its evaluation of the costs and benefits and the technical and policy considerations” of his fuel mandate. Amazingly, Inslee’s budget writers didn’t discover that his gas tax scheme could raise prices by $1.17 a gallon (like one of his previous consultants did), but instead their “evaluation indicates that costs of the program are relatively small—for example, gasoline costs might rise by two cents per gallon by 2020.”
Yesterday, the Oregonian warned its readers to beware of Democrat governors who make absurd claims concerning the economic benefits of a fuel mandate. Studies prove the volatility of fuel mandates—Inslee’s consultants estimated a $1 plus per gallon gas tax and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) found Inslee’s fuel mandate would cost Washington State more than 11,000 jobs over the next five years. Yet, Inslee persists in ignoring and denying these studies.
Inslee goes on to inform the legislators that he has asked the Department of Ecology to draft a fuel mandate. The Department will then “solicit review and comments on the draft rule, to include consultation with legislators and other governments…”
Inslee’s desire to give off the appearance that he is including legislators in his fuel mandate plans by opening it up for “review and comments” is just that… an appearance. Inslee’s mind is set – consider how he is ignoring the advice of his own carbon emissions reduction task force – and it is clear he will push for a fuel mandate and will refuse to listen to alternative points of view.
Our green governor revealed his true attitude when, according to sources, he called Sen. Curtis King—chairman of the Senate’s Transportation Committee—a “fear monger” when King challenged him on his fuel mandate intentions earlier this year, and the inevitable negative impact that pursuing a fuel mandate via executive order would have on state transportation package negotiations.
You can read Inslee’s letter here.
