Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged support for legislative efforts in Washington state to pass a carbon pollution tax to address climate change.
Kerry told reporters outside the state Capitol in Olympia that while the U.S. has pulled out of the Paris agreement – the global pact on climate change that he helped negotiate in 2015 – the American people have not. The former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and presidential candidate said that individual states such as Washington can lead on the issue.
Gov. Jay Inslee invited the fellow Democrat to Olympia to participate in meetings on his proposed tax on fossil fuel emissions.
Kerry was secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s second term, and has criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris accord.
Since taking office in 2013, Inslee has proposed several carbon-pricing measures to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the bills haven’t gain traction in previous legislative sessions.
This session, a bill requested by the governor is scheduled to be heard Thursday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The measure would impose a new tax of $10 per metric ton of carbon emissions, lower than the $20 per ton Inslee originally proposed. The tax would gradually increase until it’s capped at $30 a ton.
If the Legislature doesn’t act on a carbon pricing measure during the short 60-day session that ends March 8, a coalition of environmental, labor and other groups say they will move ahead with a citizen’s initiative this November. (AP)
