Photo: libraryman via FlickrWashington state’s cap-and-trade legislation is no more.
Or rather, it IS … in the existential sense … but after the House passed a watered down version on Wednesday, it should no longer be allowed to call itself “cap-and-trade legislation.” As there is no cap and trade in said cap-and-trade legislation. There is cap (Washington’s only coal-fired power plant will be required to halve greenhouse-gas emissions by 2025), but there is no trade, and there is certainly no cap-and-trade.
In fact, I suggest this so-called “cap-and-trade legislation” pull a Prince and henceforth refer to itself only as The Bill Formerly Known as Cap-and-Trade.
So what does TBFKACAT call for? Well, it tells the state to “work with the Western Climate Initiative” on any federal actions and tells the Department of Ecology to “work with polluters” to devise a way to reduce harmful emissions. I’m sure that’ll all “work out” peachily.
