The Evergreen State, a place of stunning natural beauty and innovative spirit, finds itself entangled in an ambitious experiment, the Climate Commitment Ac, that increasingly resembles less a path to environmental salvation and more a significant burden on its hardworking citizens.
While proponents laud the billions raised, a closer examination of the CCA reveals a system that is failing Washingtonians and doing little to genuinely address climate change.
Since its finalization in 2023, the CCA, Washington’s cap-and-invest program, has indeed generated a staggering sum; nearly $4 billion in just two and a half years through its auction of carbon credits. This is a testament to the program’s ability to extract revenue, but the critical question remains: Revenue for what? And at what cost?
A recent report obtained by The Center Square, revealing that a mere 0.1 percent of funds from the CCA’s Air Quality & Health Disparities Improvement account were spent on air quality projects, is nothing short of a damning indictment. Of $472 million spent in fiscal year 2024, a paltry $596,000 went toward its stated purpose of improving air quality in overburdened communities. …
The truth is, the CCA’s primary effect appears to be a regressive tax on everything from groceries to gasoline, disproportionately affecting lower and middle-income families who can least afford it. …
Washington’s cap-and-invest program, like California’s before it, seems to be less about genuinely tackling climate change through innovation and efficiency and more about creating a lucrative new revenue stream for the state government. …
It’s time for Washingtonians to demand accountability. Where are these billions truly going? How is this program genuinely making their air cleaner or their lives better? Until those questions are answered with transparent and impactful action, the Climate Commitment Act will remain what it increasingly appears to be: a costly illusion, enriching state coffers while burdening its citizens and delivering little real environmental benefit.
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