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Haler opposes governor's cap
and trade proposal
'This isn't cap and trade, this is cap and tax,' says Haler
Calling it one of the worst ideas he's seen in his legislative career,
Rep.
Larry Haler, R-Richland, announced his intentions
today to aggressively oppose upcoming cap and trade legislation.
"This isn't cap and trade, this is cap and tax!" Haler
said. "This will be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in the
history of our state. Businesses will close shop, jobs
will be lost, prices for goods and services will go
up, and families will be devastated."
The so-called cap and trade legislation is a proposal put forth by the
Western Climate Initiative, which includes seven Western states and four
Canadian Provinces. The idea is to cap the amount of carbon that
may be emitted by activities such as energy and oil production,
manufacturing jobs, and, by 2015, auto emissions, in order to reach 1990
emission levels by 2020.
Companies will have to purchase "allowances" from the government for the
right to emit greenhouse gasses. If companies don't have enough
allowances to cover their emissions, they will have to pay a fine up to
$10,000 per day.
If a company doesn't use all of its emission allowances, it may sell
those credits to other companies who need them.
While that might sound noble and simple on the surface, Haler
said the extra costs to businesses that have very limited options to
either pay penalties, buy credits from other entities, or reduce
production altogether will have a disastrous effect on the state's
economy.
"Why are we so intent on making it more difficult to attract and retain
jobs in this state?" Haler said. "There are so
many unknown costs associated with the cap and trade idea, we might as
well place a 'closed for business' sign at our state's borders."
Haler said the proposal also creates opportunity for
rampant greed and corruption in the unregulated secondary market that
will buy and sell carbon emission credits.
"When you have speculators 'betting' on the price of credits - like
we've seen with oil futures - it creates artificially high prices,"
Haler said. "There's nothing to prevent an
investment firm from buying up excess allowances from businesses in our
state and then selling them to California or Oregon. Washington
companies could be put out of business in a heartbeat simply because
additional, necessary emissions credits are too expensive or
unavailable.
"And who regulates the secondary market? The state certainly can't
do it," Haler said. "This is interstate commerce
which falls under the purview of Congress.
"With an unregulated market, we're talking about the opportunity for
fraud, greed and corruption on a massive scale," Haler
continued. "This has the potential to make Enron look like a walk
in the park."
Because Washington has some of the cleanest power and aggressive
conservation policies in place, Haler questioned the
need to "fast-track" the cap and trade legislation.
"When you consider that Washington state accounts for only three-tenths
of one percent of global greenhouse gasses, you have to wonder why the
rush," Haler said. "Why are we willing to risk
our state's businesses, jobs and economy when our contribution to
greenhouse gasses is negligible?
"This makes no sense to me," Haler said. "I will
fight against this legislation from day one."
The governor is expected to propose her cap and trade legislation,
dubbed the Climate Action Plan, soon.
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For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Senior
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
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