A gas tax won’t fix climate change. State lawmakers must oppose this low-carbon plan | Editorial

Washington alone cannot save the planet from climate change, but Gov. Jay Inslee and other state Democrats apparently still want the state to try.

The problem is Inslee and legislators won’t be the ones making the hero’s sacrifice. That honor will go to the struggling families, farmers and business owners who are barely making it month to month.

If ESSHB 1110 — the low-carbon fuel standard bill — gets through this year’s legislative session, then the price at the pump will shoot up and disposable income will go down. For those on a fixed income, this is a horrible scenario.

And gas prices won’t be the only concern.

The cost of food and other goods shipped by truck will rise because businesses will have to pass on the extra shipping expenses to their customers.

Higher fuel costs will burden city police and fire departments. School districts — especially those with large rural routes — may have to sacrifice classroom money in order to pay for fuel for school buses.

We are not deniers of climate change, but we believe ESSHB 1110 is regressive, and delivers too little environmental bang for the buck.

Inslee has lauded California’s implementation of a low-carbon fuel standard, but a 2018 report by the California Legislative Analysis Office concluded that standard — which was launched over a decade ago — is the most inefficient approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It recommended California officials consider getting get rid of it.

So why should Washington state repeat California’s mistake?

ESSHB 1110 is essentially the same bill Inslee pushed in the past. The measure attempts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by limiting the carbon intensity in traditional fuels like gasoline and diesel.

To make that happen, more biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel would have to be mixed with fossil-based fuels. If there is not enough biofuel available to meet demand, then oil producers are expected to pay “credits” to clean-fuel companies like those manufacturing electric vehicles.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA), in a report last year, estimates that a low-carbon fuel standard would increase the cost of gas by up to 57 cents per gallon by 2030. Diesel would increase by up to 63 cents per gallon in the same 10 years.

According to the Association of Washington Business, the state’s private sector would need to spend up to $2 billion to comply with a mandated low-carbon fuel standard.

Like her GOP counterparts, Washington state Sen. Sharon Brown of Kennewick is opposed to the proposal. She said that any emissions reduction from implementing ESSHB 1110 would be “a drop in the bucket” and would not be sufficient to change world climate.

She noted that Washington produces about two-tenths of 1 percent of global emissions. About 40 percent comes from transportation. If we somehow achieve the 20 percent target Inslee wants, we reduce state output by just 8 percent.

“Global impact is infinitesimal,” she said.

Brown would rather focus on other, more efficient and innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions, such as a new carbon capture project at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The method harnesses carbon before it can be emitted into the atmosphere, and then it’s used to make chemicals that can become resins and plastic materials.

ESSHB is scheduled for a public hearing Monday, March 2, in the Senate Transportation Committee. Transportation Chair, Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, has been opposed to low-carbon fuel standard plan, and helped to thwart its progress last year.

However, this year Hobbs is getting more pushback from members of his own party.

According to The Lens, proponents of ESSHB 1110 are now trying to tie the low-carbon fuel standard to Hobbs’ transportation funding goals, and a deal is in the works.

Hobbs should not play this game. ESSHB 1110 will hurt too many people in the near term and won’t make much of a difference in the long term.

We appreciate Inslee’s passion to seek solutions to climate change, but ESSHB is not the answer. Lawmakers must find a more efficient way to save the world.