Looking at the 2020 Washington legislative session, scheduled to get underway in a few weeks, what concerns Tom Davis with the Washington Farm Bureau? The continued push for a Low Carbon Fuel standard in Olympia. “A lot of the conservation and environmental groups in the state have placed the low carbon fuel standard as their […]
News Stories
Puget Sound LCFS could add $.57 to gas prices
After its failed efforts to impose a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) across the state during the last two legislative sessions, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) is now considering a LCFS that would only apply to King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. Some industry observers say the regional draft rule is intended to […]
4 Puget Sound counties may do what the state couldn’t: Pass a clean-fuel standard
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which was created under the state’s Clean Air Act and encompasses King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties, is accepting comments on a draft version of a low-carbon fuel standard. The agency’s board could vote on the proposal as soon as February. … The four-county plan is more aggressive than […]
In the final hours of the legislature, the carbon tax is back. What will it cost you?
With only hours left in the legislative session, a carbon tax proposal is back on the agenda. You can use our carbon tax calculator to see how much it will cost you. Senate Bill 5971 would add three energy taxes (and a number of other fees): A $15 per metric ton of CO2 carbon tax […]
Low carbon fuel standard stalls
ESSHB 1110, which would create a statewide low carbon fuel standard (LCFS), has hit a roadblock after it failed to clear an April 9 legislative cutoff date for bills moving through the Senate Transportation Committee, though theoretically it could be resurrected by state lawmakers if it is included in the operating budget. … One cause […]
Low-carbon fuel standard won’t reduce air pollution. So, why do greens want it so badly?
As part of the push to pass an expensive low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS), advocates now claim it will reduce air pollution. Most recently, Carrie Nyssen and Ryan Mello wrote in the Tacoma News Tribune that adopting an LCFS would reduce particulate matter (known as PM 2.5) that is a cause of health problems. Nyssen and […]
The high environmental cost of proposed 2019 climate regulation
As a result of the failure to find a compromise on carbon policy over the last six years, the legislature is now proposing a number of regulatory policies to reduce CO2 emissions. Based on the experience of other states, projections show these policies will be expensive and waste resources that could be used more effectively. […]
Researchers: Biofuels mandate may cause more harm than good with plowed-up land
Hundreds of thousands of acres of grasslands and wild habitat in the Upper Midwest have been plowed up to plant corn and soybeans in the past decade because of demand created by the government’s ethanol mandate, according to a trio of academic researchers who argue that federal biofuels policy is causing more environmental harm than […]
LCFS: “Bad news all around”
A proposal to create a low carbon fuel standard program (LCFS) in Washington state has cleared the House Appropriations Committee and could soon land on the House floor for a vote. Supporters view it as one part of an overall clean energy plan to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, which in 2014 composed roughly […]
Low carbon fuel standard’s “hidden” gas tax
With Washington having the third-highest gas tax in the country, critics of a proposed low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) say it would make fuel prices even higher but without the benefits of gas tax revenue in transportation investments. … If approved, the bill directs the state Department of Ecology to set up the LCFS program […]