Letter to the editor: Economic fairness depends on the Climate Commitment Act

Editor:

Washington’s infrastructure is in dire shape.  The Department of Transportation has said that Washington’s highways are in the “early stages of failure,” ferries are outdated and subject to frequent breakdowns, stranding travelers for hours, and there is an anticipated $900 million annual shortfall by the 2027-2029 biennium, due to a lack of federal funding.

Meanwhile, projections show that nearly $4 billion in revenue would be generated through 2029 under the Climate Commitment Act’s “cap and invest” system. This system measures greenhouse gas pollution emitted by industry and charges penalties accordingly. Revenue from the CCA would help cover modernization and electrification of our ferry fleet, improvements to our state highways, and would help keep public transit running smoothly across the Evergreen State.

Ballot initiative 2117 would repeal Washington’s Cap and Invest program and would therefore make our transportation systems dirtier, less safe and economically regressive. Instead of electrifying our ferries, we would have to rely on our current aging, unreliable, and dirty diesel fleet.  The gas tax would have to go up. Instead of having wealthy corporations improve our roads, individuals already paying the fourth-highest gas tax in America would be forced to fund such improvements.

Any way you slice it, poor and middle-class Washingtonians would pay for infrastructure upkeep, while others would line their own pockets.  It is past time for everyone to pay their fair share and for ordinary Washingtonians to get financial relief. Vote no on I-2117.

Elliot Hazzard
Edmonds

  1. Inslees cap and trade tax is paid for drivers of non electric vehicles at the gas pump! Not the corporations. All taxes they are charged are then passed onto the consumer. The current tax has added almost $0.50/gal. How many millions of dollars has Inslee passed out the all the vagrants, drug addicts, mentally ill, etc. perhaps priorities need to change! Transportation must be a priority. Not equity! Equality, is the opportunity available to everyone!

  2. And look at which party got us into this mess. Wasn’t Republicans. Democrats with their buy now pay later, – doesn’t matter what we do – we can always tax our residents more later. I think it is time to get rid of non-preforming politicians and get someone in office that knows how to govern our state and manage our finances.

    I think back to when Inslee decided he needed to run for President. What a fiasco that was. We as residents of Washington state had to pay his salary, pay for his protection, And pay for traveling expenses. What did
    we get out of it? Lots more of our money thrown out of the state and nothing else to show for it. I am so grateful he didn’t even come near to being President. So vote republican and maybe we can get politicians who know what they are doing to run our state. Consequences of actions.
    REPEAL I 2117. Give Democrats a wake up call. We will no longer put up with stupidity.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.