Rep. Mary Dye - Floor speech on Senate Bill 6058 - CCA - California/Quebec linkage - Feb. 29, 2024
1 Video View·Mar 1, 2024
During a debate of nearly five hours on the House floor, Rep. Mary Dye, ranking Republican on the House Environment and Energy Committee, led the opposition against Senate Bill 6058, which would make it easier to link Washington's carbon market to California and Quebec. Dye and other House Republicans argued that linkage to California, one of the most expensive and unaffordable states in the nation, would drive up energy costs and fuel prices in Washington state. The bill passed 57-39 on a party-line vote, with Republicans voting no.
For more information, go to: https://marydye.houserepublicans.wa.gov
the good member from the 9th District
representative D thank you madam
speaker I um think this has been very
generous of you to allow us to
illustrate some of our concerns about
the policy that it's very much premature
we're not ready to start these
discussions in a short session Madam
speaker I will be ref referring to my
notes if that's all
right you know when the if it's all
right are you permission may I may I
have permiss thank you you know we have
a situation when we enter into a linkage
agreement or when we in enter into
negotiations for a linkage
agreement it's a difficult thing to try
to retain our sovereignty to date this
bill sets up a framework where we we
move towards the California model by
changing the the levels but what does
that really mean the answer is that in
order to do that connection it's it's
that there's word magic that says that
the linkage agreement is nonbinding
until it is binding and so we Define it
as non-binding and that's very
significant because we
negotiate and we have press
conferences and we interlock our carbon
markets but the agreement is statutorily
non-binding so that is a question how is
it that we retain the control over our
environmental goals as a state and what
if our program is now co-opted to fix
the environmental goals of a different
state or Nation secondly I would say
that the impacts on this is that you
know while we think that we're going to
help our Industries we're going to help
them by giving them more liquidity in
the market the reality is is that these
allowances are in statute not a property
right and and so while we talk about the
money that they it might reduce cost to
the consumer the real reality is that
our Industries are holding a piece of
paper that's an it's a just an
instrument created out of thin air from
a rul making process at the department
of ecology so $2.2 billion have been
spent so far by our Industries into this
project project and what do we have to
show for it extraordinarily difficult
cost of living increases for every
single was Washingtonian it's hit every
person at the uh kitchen table Madam
speaker I urge that you join me in
voting no on this um policy we're not
ready to adopt
it