Yesterday, Jay Inslee announced his plans to pay off his extreme environmental campaign donors by “setting a fish-consumption rate that would be among the highest in the nation.” Inslee’s proposed fish-consumption rate is 175 grams a day—a serving size that will supposedly “protect people who eat about a serving of fish a day.”
Why does something like a fish-consumption rate impact clean water rules? From the Columbian,
“How much fish people eat is part of a complicated formula that determines how clean waters should be. A higher rate theoretically would mean fewer toxic chemicals would be allowed in waters and tougher permitting rules for facilities that discharge pollutants into state waters.”
Currently, Washington State does not have the costly technologies needed to keep “certain levels of toxic chemicals out of state waters.” Businesses and local governments will be forced to “spend millions on equipment to comply with the new water quality rules.” But, that’s not where the problem even begins. According to the Washington Policy Center, the investment in the costly technology would not even enable businesses and local governments “to fully comply, since the technology does not currently exist to measure or meet such a high standard.”
Inslee’s fish consumption rate will end up hurting jobs and economic growth. The Washington Policy Center’s Erin Shannon recently appeared on Fox News to discuss the potential unforeseen consequences. The Washington Policy Center,
“The Fox News story questioned the impact of the new standards on businesses, the need for more restrictive rules and their efficacy. The Fox correspondent specifically focused on the impact on Boeing, which recently warned that the proposed increase “will have unintended consequences for continued Boeing production in the state.” WPC pointed out to the Fox News correspondent that another unintended consequence will be on local governments and the sewer fees charged to city residents. The city of Bellingham estimates the monthly sewer bill for city residents could increase from the current $35 per month to a whopping $200 or more per month.”
You can watch the full video below.
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