I published Washington State Gasoline Prices Are a Precursor to New York’s Future a couple of days ago that was a variation of an article published at Watts Up With That – Do Washington State Residents Know Why Their Gasoline Prices Are So High Now?. The Watts Up With That article asked for feedback from Washington residents about the cost impacts of this cap-and-invest program policy.
Recent reports note that gasoline prices in the State of Washington are now higher than California. This is also the first year of Washington’s cap-and-invest program a “comprehensive, market-based program to reduce carbon pollution and achieve the greenhouse gas limits” set in the Climate Commitment Act. The posts show that there is an obvious link between Washington’s new cap and trade program and gasoline prices. This article discusses the comments on the Watts Up With That article.
I have been following the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (Climate Act) since it was first proposed. I submitted comments on the Climate Act implementation plan and have written over 300 articles about New York’s net-zero transition. I have extensive experience with air pollution control theory, implementation, and evaluation having worked on every cap-and-trade program affecting electric generating facilities in New York including the Acid Rain Program, RGGI, and several Nitrogen Oxide programs since the inception of those programs. I follow and write about the RGGI cap and invest CO2 pollution control program so my background is particularly suited for this proposal. I have devoted a lot of time to the Climate Act because I believe the ambitions for a zero-emissions economy embodied in the Climate Act outstrip available renewable technology such that the net-zero transition will do more harm than good. The opinions expressed in this post do not reflect the position of any of my previous employers or any other company I have been associated with, these comments are mine alone.
Background
I refer readers to either previous article Washington State Gasoline Prices Are a Precursor to New York’s Future or Do Washington State Residents Know Why Their Gasoline Prices Are So High Now? for background information on the New York and Washington cap-and-invest programs.
The articles explained that “The average cost of regular gasoline in Washington state has jumped by 32 cents over the past month to $4.93 a gallon, according to AAA” according to an article
California is no longer America’s most expensive state for gas. Another article says that some experts connected the dots to the new legislation. In my opinion, the key point is that the cost of Washington gasoline has risen more relative to the price increases elsewhere so that now Washington has the highest prices in the nation. The first two auctions for the Washington cap-and-invest program sold 14,770,222 allowances and raised $780,829,117 averaging $52.87 per allowance. According to the US Energy Information Administration 17.86 lbs of CO2 are emitted per gallon of finished motor gasoline which means that 112 gallons burned equals one ton. That works out to $0.47 a gallon needed to cover the cost of allowances necessary to purchase the allowances and that is a unique Washington cost adder.
I concluded that there is a clear link between the pass-through cost that gasoline suppliers must pay and the fact that Washington State gasoline prices have increased more than other states. One of the reasons for my obsession following similar policies in New York is that observed significant cost increases with little real benefits should engender a political response. If it can be shown that there are real and significant costs as opposed to the “no real impact” claims made by net-zero proponents the politicians who supported these policies should be held accountable. The question is whether the residents of Washington have figured out that their gasoline prices are so high because of the politicians who promulgated this policy. I closed that I would appreciate any feedback from Washington residents about the cost impacts of this cap-and-invest program policy.
Comments
The article was published in the middle of the night in the USA so the first comments were from Great Britain where it was pointed out that the Washington costs of gasoline were a fraction of the costs there.
Ron Long and ToldYouSo brought up the overarching issue. Washington and New York emissions are so low relative to global emissions that nothing they will do will have any chance of affecting climate change even if there is a relationship between GHG emissions and global warming.
Alex Long submitted the first comment relative to accountability. He argued that abortion is an overriding issue for many democrats.
The point of this is simple: It does not matter how high gasoline will cost, it does not matter how bad crime gets, it does not matter if people’s rights are taken away because of a virus — the democrat can safely get re-elected only because they support abortion. A politician’s only concern is to get elected or re-elected. The democrats know a significant number of people will blindly vote for them because abortion. Thus, all the democrats have to do is keep abortion legal and they will safely win the election. That was the lesson I learned in 2022.
Accountability Comments
Steve Oregon said that Washington residents are clueless about the politician’s gas price hike. He went on:
An associate of mine owns a major gas station in southern Washington and raises the issue with his customers often. The have no idea their legislature and governor raised the price of gas as the did.
ALL of the Washington media parrots the politicians with NEVER any additional clarification or truth provided.
The short of it is Washington State is a thoroughly Democrat cesspool of public deceit and dysfunction.
Jebstang66 pointed out that Washington’s hydro power is a tremendous and clean asset. He described Washington politics.
The State is run by extreme Leftist politicians who have the majority in every important place in government here including the WA State Supreme Court. So they pass draconian climate laws without viable opposition. Cap and trade along with “The Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) in 2019 which requires that all utilities eliminate coal by 2025 and provide carbon neutral electricity by 2030. Many stakeholders, utility officials and industry leaders warned that losing baseload sources like coal would increase the probability of brownouts and blackouts if demand increased, a likely occurrence in the next ten years.” It is tax scheme to increase the size and control of State Government. The media here controls the narrative so most people are misinformed.
A comment from kvt1100 described the cost difference between Washington and Oregon:
I live in Eastern WA and gas here today is $4.75/gallon and 30 miles south in Oregon it is $4.35/gallon. Last year the prices in Oregon and Washington were near equal. WA is abusing its constituents by taxing us to pay for our Governor’s pet environmental projects. None of which will amount to any meaningful decrease in wicked CO2. Neighbors and family members are unaware of the price gouging by our governor.
Waforests summarized the situation well:
I am *extremely* aware of what’s causing the price hike (in part because i pay attention; I also follow the WPC’s analysis).
This is a perfect example of politicians not understanding the policies they put in place. Inslee said it would simply be an increase of “pennies” (unless he meant 50 of them).
And it doesn’t even *do* anything: it doesn’t help the planet in a meaningful way, and it just hurts poor and rural folk the most.
John Hultquist described the situation in Washington and raised the point that this will disproportionately hit the poor:
Without looking stuff up:
A Washington State initiative was passed a few years ago to raise taxes by about 25¢/gallon for each of two years. Roads and bridges were in need of repair and cost of labor and materials were increasing. Work around the State is noticeable. That is good.
Washington has no internal sources of petroleum. Imports have come from Alaska and B.C. to the Cherry Point Refinery. Also, gasoline reaches central WA at Moses Lake via the 531 mile Yellowstone Pipeline from Billings, MT. From Moses Lake, it is delivered by truck to farther destinations, such as where I live 71 miles west. All not so good.
I do not think most people in Washington State are aware of the cap-and-invest program. The State is about 60% Democrat affiliated and the elites from the Inslee administration on down are pleased with themselves. Summarizing: WA is leading in the green movement to save the Planet.
If the poor suffer – we don’t give a schist.Dreadful.
There were a couple succinct responses. I liked Janice Moore’s response to the question whether residents are aware of the problem and the reason: “Yes, some of us do. Answer: Democrats.”
Alexei stated: “The “cap & invest” program is clearly a carbon tax and promoted by our departing governor Inslee but I doubt it will be met with much resistance by the credulous climate electorate here that have kept him in office for so long.”
Beta Blocker gave a detailed response:
I live in a rural area of the southeastern corner of the state in a place which is a wide spot in the road you would miss altogether if you didn’t already know it was there.
Concerns are being raised inside the local public utility districts, and among knowledgeable people familiar with energy issues in the US Northwest, that the coal plants which serve the region are being closed faster than they are being replaced.
A decade ago, the plan was to replace those coal plants with gas-fired power plants. Ten years later, new-build gas-fired power generation is completely off the table as an alternative to coal.
Nuclear hasn’t been formally rejected in Washington State, but the hard reality is that new-build nuclear couldn’t be delivered in a time-frame which would make any real difference to the emerging situation.
This trend towards closing coal-fired plants without replacement by equivalent generation is certain to continue and is even likely to accelerate as the Biden Administration and the EPA put more pressure on the region’s politicians and on the power utilities to reduce their carbon emissions in accordance with the EPA’s new emission rules.
The Western Electricity Coordination Council and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council are both downplaying the risks of electricity shortages in the US west and in the US northwest.
Inside the power planning models, megawatt-hours saved through energy conservation measures are being employed as fully equivalent to megawatt-hours generated and consumed. This is the means by which the risk of blackouts is being pencil-whipped away.
The bottom line is that the risk of blackouts occurring in the US Northwest is increasing rapidly. One independent risk analysis cited in a recent behind-the-paywall article in ANS Nuclear News sees our blackout risk increasing from 5% today in the year 2023 to greater than 25% after 2025.
Just like it is in California and in New York State, there isn’t one person in a hundred living in the US Northwest who has a clue about what is now happening with the reliability of our electricity supply.
Finally, Major Meteor describes the ultimate response to this kind of program:
The impact this is having on Washington residents is that some of them are moving to states that have common sense. So moving to Tennessee I figure my cost of living is easily $5K to $6K less with about $500 per year of that being gas taxes and I don’t even drive much. So if I am handing them $6K per year, I just want to know what they do with that extra money. Doesn’t look like society or my family benefits from the extra burden at all. I’m out.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, these responses are completely consistent with my experiences in New York. Very few people know about these programs and the potential ramifications. I am disappointed that even when Washington residents are confronted with inarguable proof that the programs are leading to significant cost increases that many of those affected still have not caught on.
I think the problem is that this issue and the programs to address it are just background noise. Every day there is another story claiming it is climate change is here now and once in a while there is a political statement bragging about doing something. When the time comes to vote, other issues are more important and the Progressives still get elected. The point is that they did not get elected to pursue the cockamamie climate change control programs even if they think that they did. How about a referendum to ask the people whether they want to proceed down this path?
Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York 
Dear Roger,
You mentioned you were interested in getting feedback from Washington State residents about the recent gas price jump in our state.
I’m a Washington State resident and here is my take.
In order to see why our gas prices are so high there are a few background issues that may help explain. First, Washington has no income tax other than the just instituted tax on Capital Gaines over $250,000. So the two main ways the Washington government uses to tax the populous is with a hefty gas tax, (the third highest in the nation) and a more than hefty liquor tax combined with the general state sales tax and other state taxes on marijuana etc.
Second, Washington State is basically a one party state, much like California. So the usual checks and balances with a two party system are very difficult to come by. Third, the current head of our one party state, Governor Inslee, is an avowed climate change alarmist having even attempted to run for president on that issue in the last national election.
Our Governor actually thinks the world is watching what Washington state is doing to lower CO2 and that we will set the example for the rest of the world to follow. So he exhibits obvious signs of delusion. Neither he nor basically anyone else of note in our legislative system has any idea what is going on in the rest of the world regarding energy, especially in the undeveloped world including China & India.
So our legislature is living in a national and international energy ignorant “bubble” and being lead by a likable but oblivious energy ignorant crusading climate change alarmist. This is not a desirable circumstance for rational energy policy making decisions.
The legislature was bright enough to realize they couldn’t get a straight forward transparent “climate” tax passed to deal with real and projected environmental issues. Instead under the guises of combating climate change, the legislature came up with “Tax and Invest”. Hey, maybe that qualifies us to get some of that 350 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” federal money.
The Washington legislature connived up this ridiculous convoluted regressive tax scam pretending that it is going to help show the world how to reduce CO2 thus saving the planet from computer modeled future bad weather Armageddon. Never mind that this kind of tax is designed to place a specifically heavier financial load on the middle, lower and fixed income classes.
In the real world this “Tax and Invest” scam is nothing more than a regressive tax and redistribution scheme of the taxed monies supposedly for environmental benefits. Altho many of these environmental projects are certainly worthy of mitigating, taxing the CO 2 emitters who then tax us after running it through who knows how many levels of paid government bureaucrats to get what ever funds are left for environmental mitigation is definitely a torturous and wasteful way of attempting to achieve fruitful goals.
At the end of the day, the CO2 emitters get to keep on emitting. It just costs them more. So of course they just pass along the the costs to us. In this case at the gas pump. “Climate Change” is thus being utilized in Washington State in a covert way to extract more “tax” money from the state populace.
And if that isn’t bad enough, the state has a sordid record of keeping it’s word on where even issue specific referendum voted on and “earmarked” money will be spent let alone legislated monies. The taxed monies have an embarrassing history of disappearing from their original approved referendum or legislated intention and finding their way into the general fund.
On a state level, now the folks who pushed the “tax and Invest” scheme are saying they didn’t think or weren’t advised the gas price would go up that much. Maybe a nickel or so. Obviously these clowns did not have a clue how this was going to work. But gee, are they ever happy about all that money they got rolling in at the constituent’s expense. As a senior citizen on a fixed income I’m not happy about that. Some of that “tax & invest” is my money.
The Washington State “tax and Invest” scheme is a convoluted regressive tax hurting those in the middle, fixed and lower income brackets the most. It will have zero affect on stopping the climate from changing. It’s a state tax shell game preying on the less affluent.
It’s safe to assume there is not a single legislator or bureaucrat from the Governor on down in the state of Washington who can tell you how much less warming this ridiculous, expensive counterproductive scheme will achieve.
If any of the above is useful to you, feel free to use it in any edited form you prefer.
Paul Fundingsland
fundingslandpaul@gmail.com
Olympia WA
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