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Governor attempts to impose climate
change bill without legislative authority
By Rep. Dan Kristiansen
Special to chambers of commerce
In my last article to the
chamber of commerce, I listed good and bad business bills considered by
the Legislature, including Senate Bill 5735. That's the big "cap and
trade" legislation that would have forced businesses to pay to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Legislators, citizens and small business
owners successfully
fought to stop this measure which would have imposed some of the state's
most costly regulations against businesses.
Unfortunately, Gov.
Gregoire decided to issue an executive order to impose the provisions of
the bill, ignoring the concerns voiced against the measure by
Washingtonians. "We
can't further delay action on climate change," she said, as if it is an
emergency that immediately threatens our state.
Certainly none of us want
to see our polar ice caps melt or have drastic changes in our weather
systems that could affect the populations of the world. Whether or not
you agree with environmentalists that global warming exists, let's put
away that argument for just a moment and get to the heart of the matter
here in Washington.
Pay close attention to
this paragraph: Washington is one of the cleanest states
in the nation. Our state produces only three-tenths of 1 percent of
global greenhouse gas emissions. That's like a pebble of sand on an
entire beach. With such little output, no amount of reductions we
attempt in Washington will have any effect on global greenhouse gas
emissions. Washington is already green!
Apparently, that doesn't
matter to the governor, whose executive order includes such provisions
as:
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Develop
emission reduction strategies and industry emissions benchmarks to
make sure 2020 reduction targets are met.
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Work on
low-carbon fuel standards or alternative requirements to reduce
carbon emissions from the transportation sector. (That likely could
mean future tax increases as evidenced in proposed bills the last
couple of years, such as taxing the size of your
automobile engine [Senate Bill 6900 - 2008 session], and/or a
mandatory reduction of the vehicle miles you
travel. [House Bill 2815 - 2008 session; House Bill 1490 - 2009
session])
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Work with
six other Western states and four Canadian provinces in the Western
Climate Initiative to develop a regional emissions reduction program
design.
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Work with
the Obama administration to help design a national program that is
strong and reflects state priorities. (AWB President Don Brunell
notes Obama's cap-and-trade proposal would be "a $650 billion hidden
tax on all Americans.")
Why are we spending
millions of dollars on policies that would kill thousands of jobs and
force businesses to leave Washington? It makes no sense to take such
drastic steps that would merely polish an already clean state.
If there's any
salvation to our businesses about the governor's executive order,
enforcement is questionable. A 1991 attorney general's opinion noted:
"The legislative authority of the state of Washington is vested in the
Legislature. The governor cannot create obligations, responsibilities,
conditions or processes having the force and effect of law by the
issuance of an executive order."
Even if the
executive order is unenforceable, you can be sure it won't be the last
we'll see of this attempt by government to seize more power and tax
dollars on the pretense of creating a better environment. So please stay
alert and involved.
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EDITOR'S NOTE:
State Rep. Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish,
represents the 39th Legislative District, and also serves as chairman of
the Washington House Republican Caucus. He can be contacted at (360)
786-7967 or from his Web site at:
www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/Kristiansen.
For more information, contact:
John
Sattgast, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
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