In-person meeting this month, plus inspirational (and/or wonky) readings

Hello carbon tax friends:

• Claire Meints (who is working on and for CarbonWA this summer, starting yesterday!) has suggested a couple of possible times for an in-person meeting in Seattle, location TBD. If you'd like to participate, please email me with your preferences and constraints for one or both of the following options: Thursday 6/20 at 6:00pm or Saturday 6/22 at 3:00pm. Stay tuned for more!
• For inspiration, I recommend reading this NYT article on Citizens Climate Lobby. CCL has four active chapters in Washington State (Bainbridge, Port Orchard, Seattle, Whidbey) and continues to do great work with Congressional representatives, newspapers, &c in pushing for a federal carbon tax.
• Also worth reading is "The Journey to a Price on Carbon" from Sightline's 2012 Gratitude Report. (It's PDF pages 8-9, or numbered pages 6-7, and for the sake of full disclosure I should note that I'm a supporter of and Fellow at Sightline and have been on that journey with Sightline since 1998, when I worked with Alan Durning on the book Tax Shift.)
• On the wonky side of things, there's a new CBO report on carbon taxes. It's a good summary of the way economists think about climate change and carbon pricing and IMHO is likely to be a good preview for the Washington State study bill report that will be coming out in October. Key themes from the report are as follows, and note that the report focuses on carbon taxes but the key themes apply equally to auctioned cap-and-trade systems: (1) carbon pricing will raise the price of carbon (duh!); (2) a price of $20-$30 per ton CO2 is likely to reduce emissions by 5-10% in the short term; (3) the economic burden of a carbon tax is best offset by using the revenue to reduce existing taxes; (4) lump-sum rebates or certain other measures have the benefit of addressing regressivity but do not reduce the burden on the overall economy. ("[U]nlike using carbon tax revenue to reduce [marginal] tax rates... lump-sum payments [would] not increase people's incentives to work or invest and thus would not lead to greater economic productivity.") I would be pretty stunned if the consultants' report in October didn't reiterate these key themes.
• On a semi-personal note: My co-author Grady Klein and I are inviting feedback on rough drafts of our next book, The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change. Follow the link if you're interested in checking it out!

May 23, 2013: Carbon tax summer!

• I'm happy to report that CarbonWA has hired its first employee! Claire Meints has been a terrific volunteer activist and she's going to spend this summer in Seattle focusing on the campaign. I've got a bunch of time to contribute to the campaign this summer also, so we should make great progress... and don't be surprised if future updates to this list-serv come from Claire :)
• On the policy front, I'm doing some research on regressivity and the state tax system and came across this recommendation to eliminate the $400m sales tax on construction labor from the 2002 Gates Commission report. The Gates report is a decade old so I don't know the current status of this issue---if you know anything please let me know---but if it's still an active issue then it might be a good element to include in our effort. Comments welcome!
• Thanks to everyone on Lopez Island for coming out to my talk last week and for joining the list-serv! As with everyone else on this list, let me know if you're ready to pledge 40 person-hours to collect 1000 signatures for the CarbonWA effort between February and June 2014, and ditto if you can contribute in other ways :)
• In news from elsewhere, the Oregon legislature is still considering various bills (including a carbon pricing study bill) and yesterday about 100 people turned out for a lobby day led by Oregon CAN, which is pushing a BC-style revenue-neutral carbon tax for Oregon. (Claire is an Oregon native and so she was there and is touch with the folks at Oregon CAN.) More generally, the year ahead is looking like it will have so much carbon pricing action on different fronts in different states that I've started to think of it as the "let a hundred flowers bloom" period. All this ferment has led to the creation of a state-level action page at carbontax.org that currently focuses on OR, NY, and WA. And Tom Steyer's keynote speech at the Climate Solutions breakfast on May 13 included an explicit call for the west coast states to "participate together in direct democracy" (i.e., ballot measures!) as a way of building towards federal action. All very exciting, so let's keep pushing forward!

April 28, 2013: Everett Herald carbon tax editorial

• A great Everett Herald editorial: It's time for a carbon tax
• Sightline's Talking Carbon Taxes, Free-Enterprise Style
• In transportation news, a modest transportation bill is heading for the Governor's desk: "Lawmakers are leaving aside for now the more contentious question of a transportation revenue package that would augment the budget. That debate is set to resume in a special session..."
• In Oregon a carbon tax study bill (SB 306) is moving forward through the legislature; here's the most recent bill language I can find. During a hearing last week "the industrial owned utilities came out against it, as did the rural electric coop, but that was all (and frankly, that was to be expected). We had good support for the study and task force bill and testimony from: Building Trades, Iberdrola, Skanska, Metro (regional gov't), Eugene Water and Electric Board, CUB [Citizens' Utility Board], Oregon Law Center (low income advocates), and Main Street Alliance (small business association)." Two other good recent articles on Oregon: Three issues to watch in Oregon's carbon tax debate and A smarter tax for Oregon, by Tom Potiowsky, Northwest Economic Research Center, PSU.
• In Europe, Paid Permits for Pollution Are Fizzling
• On the lighter side, a great (and relevant) comedy routine: David Crowe: Gasaholic

April 15, 2013: Sierra Club support, new revenue-neutral draft, and other developments

Some good developments!

• Last week I was invited to talk carbon taxes with the Conservation Committee of the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club. The idea of a revenue-neutral carbon tax received a vote of support (unanimous, if I recall correctly) and a task force was created to come up with recommendations for getting a carbon tax passed. Great news, stay tuned for more!
• I submitted ballot language for a revenue-neutral proposal to see what kind of ballot title would come out of it, and here's the result: "This measure would impose a greenhouse gas emissions tax on certain fossil fuels, reduce the state sales tax one percentage-point, eliminate the business and occupation tax on manufacturers, and increase certain tax credits." More details on the bill itself (PDF, Word) and on the ballot title and summary.
• Governor Inslee signed into law a study bill that will evaluate ideas like BC's carbon tax and report back in October 2013.
• A good op-ed in the Wall Street Journal from Nobel-winning economist Gary Becker and George Shultz: "Why We Support a Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax". (Last I checked this article was not gated, although the WSJ often is.)
• We're shifting focus towards a revenue-neutral option and away from a transportation option, but as a last-ditch effort of sorts on the transportation front Clark Williams-Derry of Sightline and I wrote a post on "How To Fix the Washington Transportation Package".
• PS. Some earth day talks coming up at Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church (Sunday April 21), Plymouth Forum at Plymouth UCC in Seattle (Sunday April 21), Seattle University (T April 23), Bellevue College (Th April 25), and Yakima (May 2). Holler if you want details or want to help out!

Mar 25, 2013: Carbon tax progress in Oregon and Washington

Preface: I've got some talks and comedy shows coming up this week in eastern Washington (Twisp, Omak, Ellensburg, Moses Lake, Walla Walla) so if you're in that neighborhood check out the details.

Amazing news continues to pour in from Oregon, where the Northwest Economic Research Center at PSU released a report on Carbon Tax and Shift: How to Make it Work for Oregon's Economy. "A carbon tax is an efficient way to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions — you tax what you want less of," said Tom Potiowsky, NERC’s director and professor and chair of PSU’s Department of Economics. "With a policy that uses the revenue from a carbon tax to reduce other taxes, Oregon could accelerate the process of reducing those emissions while still supporting a vibrant economy." Everybody should read this report, and not just because I helped out on it a bit. (The real heroes are the folks at PSU and at the Oregon Environmental Council.) Last week BC Environment Minister Terry Lake joined Potiowsky to testify before the Oregon Legislature, which is considering 3 carbon tax bills and a carbon tax study bill.

Good news in Washington State, too: the State Senate approved a study bill to identify cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions. The bill specifically includes "a review of reduction strategies being implemented... on the west coast [and] in neighboring provinces in Canada" (e.g., BC's carbon tax) and was passed by a 37-12 vote that included support from 12 Republicans. (Ten Republicans and two Democrats voted No.) The bill is very likely to pass the State House and receive the governor's signature, in which case the study itself is slate to be finished by October 15, 2013.

There's even an interesting bit of news nationally: Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer and three colleagues from the House and Senate released draft carbon-pricing legislation and are soliciting feedback on it. The deadline for providing feedback is Friday April 12.

On the transportation front here in Washington: Transportation Issues Daily has the latest on the transportation package, including Inslee's support for taking action. In past updates I wrote that the odds of a transportation bill passing this session are low, but it's still alive and kicking, and Jim Lazar notes that "The supreme court decision (50% + 1) for taxes makes the odds MUCH higher." Unfortunately we have not had much luck after our January op-ed at getting a carbon tax injected into the transportation conversation, but we will keep trying! (If a transportation bill does pass that is road-heavy and doesn't include a carbon tax, I will personally oppose it, and I think many others on this list will also, but an informal poll of CarbonWA supporters indicated that as a group we should focus on promoting our positive agenda and not get distracted by opposing a roads-heavy transportation bill.)

On the education front here in Washington: a group of mostly Republican State Senators is trying to get $300m more for higher education, which is a top priority of the business community. "Senate leaders declined to explain how they would pay for the proposal. Lawmakers already face more than a $1 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget cycle and are separately under court order to expand funding for K-12 education." Hmm... how about a carbon tax? :)

Finally, on the revenue-neutral front: I'm writing up a revenue-neutral option, stay tuned for more on that!

Mar 5, 2013: Climate action study bill and transportation news

This week's news:

• Governor Inslee is testifying this morning (Tuesday) in favor of a climate action study bill. (At its core is a proposal for the state to commission a rigorous review of carbon reduction policies in other states and provinces.) Please contact your state legislators and encourage them to support the bill!
• In transportation news: Sightline's Eric de Place has a great post on what's wrong with the House transportation bill. That bill is still alive in Olympia but it faces increasingly long odds, including "strong voter opposition" according to a just-released Elway Poll. (The full poll results are here, and I can't help but notice a parallel with climate: the public favors action but doesn't want to pay for it.) Also worth reading is this Transportation Issues Daily post about unfair expectations regarding incoming WSDOT secretary Lynn Peterson.
• We're hoping to make more progress in the weeks ahead on the transportation front, but also on the idea of linking carbon taxes to education funding (or to a 100% revenue-neutral tax reform). Stay tuned!
• In federal news, Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer have a tax and dividend bill that is pretty awesome (but faces daunting odds given the gridlock in DC) and Sightline's Anna Fahey has two good posts on polling and messaging: American Support for a Carbon Tax and Climate Message Essentials for All Six Americas.

Feb 25, 2013: Transportation and climate bills in BC, OR, VA, and WA

In British Columbia, the right-of-center Liberal Party decided to essentially freeze the carbon tax at its current rate of $30/ton CO2. (They are going to continue an exemption for greenhouses and seek a new exemption for farm diesel.) See pp58-63 of this budget document for details. Also very much worth a read is "A Tale of Two Taxes: The Fate of Environmental Tax Reform in Canada" by UBC professor Kathryn Harrison. You can read the abstract from the link above, email me if you're interested in seeing the whole article, which is long but worth it.

In Oregon there are four carbon tax bills under consideration. I haven't gone into the details, but if you want to then here's the bills: HB 2497 (one of two from the House Revenue Committee); HB 2792 (Energy and Environment Committee, chaired by awesome Rep Jules Bailey); HB 2874 (the other House Revenue Committee bill); and SB 537 (carbon tax study bill). Go Oregon!

In Virginia, the state legislature passed a complicated transportation bill that Republican governor Bob McDonnell supports. The best summary I've found (from the Coalition for Smarter Growth) says that the bill funds a lot of new highway construction and does so in large part by increasing the state sales tax. (It also shifts the state gas tax from a per-gallon tax to a percent tax, so the net effect of that depends on gas prices.) My take-away from this is that legislators (including Republicans) are desperate for transportation infrastructure funding and that a carbon tax would be a much better way to get it than a general sales tax.

Finally, here in Washington there are some details on Judy Clibborn's transportation package. See the links at the bottom of her press release, especially the Fact Sheet showing that half the funds go to new projects (I-5, I-90, 167, 509, 395) and only 7% goes to maintenance of the state system. That's only $631m for maintenance of the state system despite the need (identified by Connecting Washington) of $3.1 billion. (And of course Connecting Washington identified $4.9 billion in maintenance needs at the city and county levels; Clibborn's proposal provides $675m in assistance.) BTW, Sightline's Clark Williams-Derry reminds me of their estimate that each new lane-mile of urban highway creates up to 186,500 tons of CO2 over 50 years.

In somewhat happier news, last week Governor Inslee introduced a climate action study bill into both the House and Senate. At its core is a proposal for the state to commission a rigorous review of carbon reduction policies in other states and provinces. Stay tuned for more on this!