Category: Newsroom Sidebar

CNN’s John Sutter came to Seattle and British Columbia to report on Initiative 732 (and carbon taxes in general). It’s part of his series on how to keep the planet from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius. Here’s part of his story on CNN.com:

“Washington’s Initiative-732 would make a bad thing — pollution — more expensive by putting a tax on each ton of carbon dioxide created by cars, power plants and the like.

“More importantly, doing so would throw economic muscle behind clean energy, shorter commutes, cleaner air and smarter cities. It would use the market, not regulations, to choose winners and losers in the clean tech race. It would help Washington state, in the apt words of the initiative’s promoters, fulfill its moral responsibility to leave a livable planet for future generations. And it plans do so without wrecking the economy or growing government.”

Photo: Sutter (right) talks with UW climate scientist Cliff Mass at I-732’s campaign kickoff.

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From the Islands’ Weekly:

All of us have experienced the effects of climate change firsthand. Here in the Northwest it has been relatively mild compared to the superstorms, extreme drought, more frequent wildfires, and sea level rise that have battered other locations all over the globe. Climate action can’t wait. I-732 tackles this critical issue by lowering taxes on things we want more of (like jobs and purchasing power) and raising them on things we want less of (carbon emissions).

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Renewable energy executive Ed Mahlum and Carbon Washington co-chair Joe Ryan say Initiative 732 will reduce dirty fossil fuel pollution without raising taxes, and increase the strength and competitiveness of our economy. Read their op-ed piece in the Spokane Spokesman-Review. more

Carbon Washington co-chair Yoram Bauman writes in The Olympian that a state analysis claiming I-732 causes a $900 million shortfall makes faulty assumptions.

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