SB 6203, Washington’s latest attempt to pass meaningful carbon tax legislation, made it out of the state’s Senate Ways and Means Committee last week and awaits action by the full Senate.
In the midst of this latest news, Sightline Senior Researcher Kristin Eberhard was a guest on The Overcast, the Seattle Times‘ weekly politics podcast. Kristin joined hosts Dan Beekman and Jim Brunner to discuss the merits of SB 6203, and what the next steps are.
Listen to the episode in its entirety below, and see all our work on Cascadia climate action here.
Thanks KE for doing this.
The podcast is of a wonkish “what is politically feasible and how have the maneuverings been” bent, likely due to what the hosts asked.
Suggestions: Answer the big Q “Why should I care”, even if unasked. Stress the larger context, including that infrastructure decisions now will channel us toward savings or emissions for decades to come, that CO2 emissions are essentially forever for human society, that its effects will be varied and unpredictable, & that we’ve been the beneficiaries of the great bulk of emissions so far. Point to a Sightline page that shows stuff like the projected temperature effects for the various policy scenarios, like the first graph on this ClimateCentral page: climatecentral.org/news/ipcc-predictions-then-versus-now-15340
And for “degrees”, say C or F.
$12/ton is a farce and will have little if any impact on usage — which is the point of a carbon tax.
Democrats control Olympia, and their commitment to acting aggressively on climate change is clearly questionable.
“Democrats” sabotage of CarbonWA, which would have had a far greater impact sooner, is the prior incarnation of this folly… The hip-pocket proposal from the neoliberal “Alliance”, which brought down I-732, is not surprisingly watered-down (but well marketed) and meant to buy off a lot of narrow constituencies — and it gives an out to real legislative action. And of course adds a few more years of nominal action.
Seattle’s “Climate Action Plan” is another ineffective, feel-good, indicator of how committed those in leadership are at truly addressing this crisis in a timely manner.
And, KE, one other thing.
You are awesomely articulate and well-spoken. If you have any tips for those of us who are not, …