<![CDATA[Grist Feed: State Politics]]> http://www.grist.org/ Articles about State Politics from your friends at Grist en-us webmaster@grist.org (Grist) Sun, 29 Nov 2009 3:06:59 PDT Sun, 29 Nov 2009 3:06:59 PDT 2009, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Preserve states’ right to fight climate change]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-23-preserve-states-right-to-fight-climate-change/ Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:20:23 -0700 Dan Galpern http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-23-preserve-states-right-to-fight-climate-change/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

In his Sept. 22 U.N. speech President Obama got it right: the battle to arrest calamitous climate change can be won only if each of us enlists, perseveres, and fights “for every inch of progress.”

It is, therefore, critical that the nation not embark on that battle with one hand tied behind our collective back.

During the long years of federal inaction, California and several other states forged ahead by enacting a range of policies aimed at restricting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Now, in fits and starts, Congress is moving to create a meaningful federal program. To do that, the government should build upon and encourage state innovation. And yet, absent amendment, central features of the Waxman-Markey clean energy measure—which passed the House on June 26—would undermine the climate benefits of state climate action. Now it is up to the Senate to avert that absurd result.

The problem is this: When no meaningful cap on emissions exists, initiatives that replace fossil fuel consumption with renewable energy generation or conservation work to reduce GHG emissions. But under the House’s cap-and-trade scheme, where polluters must surrender limited allowances to cover their emissions, reduced demand for fossil fuel frees up allowances that polluters can purchase and use. Consequently, additional pollution from expanded use of coal in Ohio, for example, could nullify the climate benefits of California’s GHG regulations.

In theory, under the House bill, individual states could require polluters within their borders to surrender additional allowances. But legal and political hurdles functionally will preclude states from using this mechanism to ensure that their programs yield truly additional emissions reductions. For one thing, surplus allowances resulting from reduced demand in one state may be realized or purchased by emitters in another, and so be out of reach.

Accordingly, under the proposed trading system, efforts such as tighter state renewable energy requirements or more-stringent state vehicle emissions standards may just make it cheaper for other emitters to spew additional GHG pollution.

There is a straightforward solution. Congress could direct EPA to set aside and retire surplus allowances resulting from state initiatives. That way, state climate action will continue to produce truly additional climate benefits—as contrasted with providing windfall subsidies to fossil fuel interests.

Safeguarding the ability of states to protect the environment is nothing new. Congress established in 1955 that air pollution prevention is the primary responsibility of states and local governments. Since that time, as California’s Jerry Brown and four other state attorneys general pointed out in an Aug. 31 letter to Senators Reid and Boxer, the federal government has set minimum standards with states and local governments free to do more.

President Obama previously recognized the essential principle last December, when he called for a “sustained, all-hands-on-deck effort” to harness “the power of wind and solar energy, to develop new technology, and to marshal the skill and dedication of scientists, of entrepreneurs, and of the American workforce.”  He intoned that “unless we act,” climate change will cause drought and famine abroad, devastating weather patterns, “terrible storms on our shores, and the disappearance of our coastline.” Stemming climate change and pursuing a clean energy economy, he concluded, is not a challenge for the federal government alone; rather, it is “a challenge for all of us.”

The President had it right then, as now. The Senate should appropriate the mandate that California established for itself in 2006 to reduce climate pollution to the maximum feasible extent. This requires, at minimum, that any new federal program build upon and not nullify state initiatives and related efforts. We can little afford to surrender an inch of progress.

Dan Galpern is an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center.




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]]> <![CDATA[BC voters back carbon tax]]> http://www.grist.org/article/bc-voters-back-carbon-tax/ Wed, 13 May 2009 12:04:32 -0700 Charles Komanoff http://www.grist.org/article/bc-voters-back-carbon-tax/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Carbon emissions pricing met its first big electoral test this week, as British Columbia voters rewarded BC premier Gordon Campbell, who last July instituted North America's first major carbon tax, with a third four-year term.

News service AFP reported that with more than 60 percent of the votes counted, Campbell's Liberal Party held a 46-42 lead over the opposition New Democratic Party, whose leader, Carole James, denounced the carbon tax throughout the two-month campaign and promised to replace it with a cap-and-trade scheme.

Elections aren't referenda, as I hastened to note when the Liberals were routed in Canada's national election last fall. But that outcome was tied to the Liberal candidate's hapless campaign style, compounded by his backing away from the carbon tax plank in his party platform. In the BC campaign Campbell stood squarely behind his carbon tax. Indeed, voters appear to have rewarded the Liberals for sticking to principle as much as for the substance of the carbon tax itself.

Here's how AFP put it (emphases added):

The Liberals and New Democrats, the province's two main parties, had sparred during the campaign over issues including the economy, homelessness and several local scandals. But the environment -- and especially the carbon tax -- became the key election issue.

The tax, the first straight carbon tax in North America, was introduced by the government of British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell in 2007 [correction: 2008] to help fight climate change. The tax is revenue neutral -- the collected tax money is paid once a year to provincial residents.

The New Democrats, led by Carol James, fiercely opposed the carbon tax, arguing that it especially hurt rural residents. But the party's opposition to the tax cost them the support of almost all environmental organizations, which sided with Campbell solely on the issue, while the nonpartisan Conservation Council launched a campaign telling voters to choose "anybody but James."

The election win gave Campbell a third term - a rare occurrence in the province -with his party holding a majority of British Columbia's 85 legislature seats.

The contrast with the U.S. is stark. Not a single governor here publicly backs a carbon tax. Few of the major environmental organizations have anything positive to say about a national carbon tax, and most are still cheerleading for the carbon cap-and-trade alternative no matter how loose the cap or polluter-friendly the trading.

The BC carbon tax that took effect on July 1, 2008 is modest, equating to just $7.50-$8.00 (U.S.) per ton of CO2. However, it is to rise each year through 2012, reaching the U.S. equivalent of around $11.75/ton on July 1 and, in July 2012, around $23.50.

A U.S. carbon tax at that level would raise petrol prices by approximately 23 cents a gallon and national-average electricity prices by around 1.7 cents a kilowatt-hour. (Virtually all power generation in British Columbia is hydro-electric, so their carbon tax effectively exempts electricity.) The BC tax is revenue-neutral, with revenues returned to taxpayers through personal income and business income tax cuts.

In a recent e-mail to the Carbon Tax Center, American climatologist and climate campaigner James Hansen said, "The important thing is to get on the right policy track at the beginning - the policy must attack the fundamental problem, that dirty fossil fuels are the cheapest energy because they are not made to pay their costs to society."

Yes, carbon taxes must reach high levels and go global quickly. But for now let's celebrate that the first major jurisdiction - and party - to choose the right policy track has seen its vision recognized and its courage rewarded.










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]]> <![CDATA[Washington’s cap-and-trade legislation no longer involves cap and trade]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-17-washington-cap-and-trade/ Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:05:53 -0700 Sarah van Schagen http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-17-washington-cap-and-trade/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

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.




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]]> <![CDATA[Oregon’s successful mileage tax experiment worked smoothly—and helped curb congestion]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-01-oregons-successful-mileage/ Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:43:38 -0700 Adam Stein http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-01-oregons-successful-mileage/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Recently I've been flogging the concept of a mileage tax, a system of per-mile road usage fees that over time can replace our dysfunctional gasoline tax as a way of funding transportation infrastructure. Although people have raised a lot of interesting objections, I'd like for now to skip ahead and simply describe Oregon's successful experiment with a mileage tax. A single real-world example can be a lot more illuminating than an entire internet's worth of abstract debate.

Way back in 2001, Oregon recognized the problem that many state legislatures are now staring down: gas tax revenue is falling inexorably as vehicles become more fuel-efficient, threatening transportation budgets. The state launched a task force that investigated 28 alternative funding mechanisms before selecting a mileage tax as the one that best met a wide range of criteria: fairness, efficacy, ease of implementation, public acceptance, enforceability, privacy protection, etc.

In 2006, the state recruited 299 volunteers for participation in a year-long trial of a prototype system. Because any real-world mileage tax will be phased in over a long period of time, it has to harmonize with the existing gas tax. The Oregon experiment neatly solved this problem with a pay-at-the-pump system:

A small GPS receiver in participants' cars tracked miles driven. When participants went to the gas station to fill up, a wireless scanner at the pump detected the GPS receiver and recorded the car's current mileage, which was then sent to a central database to determine miles driven since the last payment. No specific location data was transmitted. The payment system at the gas station applied either the standard gas tax (for cars that didn't have a GPS system) or the mileage tax (for participating cars). The experiment was designed to be revenue neutral, so fees were about the same in either case.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has compiled a 100-page report on the experiment [PDF] that covers a lot of ground, but basically describes the trial as a roaring success. Note several features of this system:

Overhead is low. Because the mileage tax piggybacks on the existing gas tax collection system, it's easy and cheap for the state to administer. Payment is simple. From the driver's perspective, the mileage tax differs little from the gas tax, other than the fact that their gas station receipts contain interesting information on miles driven. Privacy is protected. The state only gets odometer information, not information about vehicle location. Evasion is difficult. Even if you tamper with the GPS receiver, you're still going to pay the gas tax. Phased implementation is possible. Oregon doesn't foresee a complete changeover to mileage taxes happening until 2040. This is a bit too slow for my taste (I really hope gas stations don't exist in 2040), but the point is that gas taxes and mileage taxes can happily coexist as the vehicle fleet turns over.

Technically, the system worked. Just as importantly, public acceptance was high; 91 percent of test participants preferred the system to paying gas taxes. Obviously this was a self-selected group of people, but the broader public response was equally telling. Before the experiment began, media portrayals of the system were almost uniformly negative -- and inaccurate. By the middle of 2006, media coverage ranged from neutral to positive, and were far more accurate. Citizen comment reflected this broader trend. ODOT concludes, "Effective communication can lead to public acceptance."

Perhaps most exciting from an environmental perspective are the ancillary benefits that such a system can provide. Halfway through the experiment, ODOT divided participants into two groups (plus a control group). One group paid a flat per-mile fee. The other paid a congestion fee of 10 cents per mile during peak driving times in the Portland metropolitan area. The congestion fee was separately itemized on participants' fuel receipts.

It turns out that all participants reduced their driving relative to the control group -- a somewhat surprising finding, because the mileage tax was designed to be revenue neutral. Anecdotally, many participants reported changing their driving habits in response to the GPS mileage displays in their cars. "One person commented that she began walking to neighborhood places when she realized by looking at the display how short the distance from her home actually was. Other people said they began organizing short trips from home to consolidate to one trip."

The results among the congestion-fee group were even more dramatic. These participants dropped their peak hour driving by 22 percent compared to the control. And this group also reduced their total driving by more than the flat-fee group, indicating that they didn't just shift their driving to other times.

These results are preliminary, but suggestive. And they only scratch the surface of the possibilities opened up by a mileage-based pricing system. As the report notes, the system could provide a powerful tool to "metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) looking for fair and stable means to fund regional plans, manage growth, contain air pollution and support better land use decisions."

Oregon currently faces a $10 billion dollar revenue shortfall for transportation financing. Earlier this year, the governor of Oregon called for state-wide implementation of a mileage tax.




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]]> <![CDATA[Oregon tries to undo ethanol leg. while ‘enviros’ lobby for biofuels subsidies]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-03-30-oregon-undo-ethanol-leg/ Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:58:13 -0700 JMG http://www.grist.org/article/2009-03-30-oregon-undo-ethanol-leg/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Oregon is struggling to undo bad ethanol legislation.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Environmental Council continues to shill for ethanol subsidies because there might someday be a magic pony of ethanol created in an entirely different way, using entirely different plants and processes, and if we don't support agribusiness with subsidies and mandates now, why, why, they won't try to find this magic pony any more!

But most didn't directly defend heavily subsidized corn-based ethanol, the feedstock for Oregon's two industrial-sized plants. Instead, they said maintaining Oregon's guaranteed demand for ethanol would boost development of more environmentally friendly forms.

Biofuel development is "key to the transition away from oil," said Andrea Salinas of the Oregon Environmental Council.

It's truly pitiful -- pathetic even -- when the so-called environmentalists are more concerned with keeping the subsidies flowing to agribusiness than anyone else.






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]]> <![CDATA[Washington’s cap-and-trade legislation gutted by Senate committee]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Jacked-of-all-trades/ Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:50:27 -0800 Sarah van Schagen http://www.grist.org/article/Jacked-of-all-trades/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Washington’s cap-and-trade legislation passes out of committee]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Cap-dance/ Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:39:17 -0800 Sarah van Schagen http://www.grist.org/article/Cap-dance/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[South Carolina governor joins Wisconsin’s and Michigan’s in pushing back against coal]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Governors-hate-coal/ Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:15:25 -0800 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/Governors-hate-coal/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Georgia legislator introduces bill that would restrict coal-fired power plants]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Fighting-the-devil-down-in-Georgia/ Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:33:45 -0800 JMG http://www.grist.org/article/Fighting-the-devil-down-in-Georgia/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Kansas legislature reviving last year’s coal fight]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Were-back-in-Kansas-again-Toto/ Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:13:04 -0800 Kate Sheppard http://www.grist.org/article/Were-back-in-Kansas-again-Toto/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Washington governor unveils green jobs legislation]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Green-work-if-you-can-get-it/ Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:01:18 -0800 Sarah van Schagen http://www.grist.org/article/Green-work-if-you-can-get-it/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[More on Illinois’ Clean Coal Portfolio Standard]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Dont-drink-the-sugar/ Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:06:36 -0800 Sean Casten http://www.grist.org/article/Dont-drink-the-sugar/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Oregon enviro group calls not for shutdown of coal plant, but for infusion of millions of dollars]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Ready-to-quit-calling-myself-an-environmentalist/ Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:59:14 -0800 JMG http://www.grist.org/article/Ready-to-quit-calling-myself-an-environmentalist/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Legislature approves ‘Clean Coal Portfolio Standards,’ green-lights new coal plant]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Illinois-embarrasses-itself-again/ Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:21:00 -0800 Sean Casten http://www.grist.org/article/Illinois-embarrasses-itself-again/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Coal group wants climate bill to build more coal plants]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Minnesota-nonsense/ Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:53:06 -0800 Sean Casten http://www.grist.org/article/Minnesota-nonsense/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Illinois leg. and gov. hoodwinked by ‘clean coal’; will Obama be as susceptible?]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Blagos-symbolic-parting-gift-to-Big-Coal/ Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:59:58 -0800 Jeff Biggers http://www.grist.org/article/Blagos-symbolic-parting-gift-to-Big-Coal/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[New York governor calls for green jobs, renewable energy, and energy efficiency to stimulate economy]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Big-Apple-to-be-the-Green-Apple/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:16:55 -0800 Adam Browning http://www.grist.org/article/Big-Apple-to-be-the-Green-Apple/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[New study: Efficiency investment better for Virginia economy and ratepayers than coal plant]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Meddling-environmentalists-try-to-save-people-money/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:15:22 -0800 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/Meddling-environmentalists-try-to-save-people-money/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Before we debate gas taxes vs. mileage taxes, Oregonians must pay for roads with those taxes]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Forests-trees-gas-taxes-and-mileage-taxes/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:06:42 -0800 JMG http://www.grist.org/article/Forests-trees-gas-taxes-and-mileage-taxes/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[<em>SacBee</em>: California regulators delayed action while fertilizer company duped organic farmers]]> http://www.grist.org/article/California-organic-ags-fertilizer-gate/ Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:24:36 -0800 Tom Philpott http://www.grist.org/article/California-organic-ags-fertilizer-gate/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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