(The Center Square) – At a Monday morning press conference regarding the results of the state’s Climate Commitment Act, Gov. Jay Inslee sought to make a thinly veiled case for why voters should reject an initiative on the November ballot that would repeal the revenue-generating program.
Though the CCA’s stated goal is to reduce carbon emission levels by 95% by 2050, Inslee said that “the basic fundamental purpose of this program, is to reduce pollution. The fundamental purpose of the Climate Commitment Act is to reduce pollution. We are responding to pollution and getting real benefits out of it.”
Under the CCA, the cap-and-trade program, an emissions limit is set that incrementally lowers. Entities subject to the CCA must purchase emission “allowances” at quarterly auctions, which have generated more than $2 billion so far. Proponents of Initiative 2117 repealing the cap-and-trade program have described it as a “hidden gas tax” that artificially raises gas
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