A state senator in Washington has proposed introducing a carbon tax of $8 per metric tonne, adding to the growing list of initiatives to put a price on the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Senator Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, on Wednesday proposed a bill that would impose the levy on the state’s GHG output, estimating that it could raise $867 million over two years.

The proceeds, he said, would be channelled to programmes that mitigate stormwater pollution, aid fish migration, and invest in renewable energy and transportation infrastructure.

Washington and its residents are looking at different ways of cutting the state’s GHG emissions by putting a price on carbon.

The state’s Department of Ecology last week released details outlining a proposed state carbon market, which if approved would represent the centrepiece in the government’s GHG reduction efforts. https://carbon-pulse.com/13955/

The scheme is being developed after Governor Jay Inslee directed the department to strengthen existing rules and set GHG limits under the state’s Clean Air Act in order to meet the emissions reduction targets passed by Washington’s legislature in 2008.

There are also at least two other active proposals aimed at putting a price on the state’s CO2.

In one effort, backers of Initiative-732 last month turned over 350,000 signatures supporting a proposal to tax CO2 at $25/tonne while offsetting the burden on consumers by lowering other state taxes.

That measure will seek approval either through the state legislature or via the ballot box in November’s nationwide elections.

Another group of environmental, labour and social justice groups is leading a separate push to enact a different state-wide carbon tax.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com