
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is proposing a carbon charge on industrial polluters to help pay for the state’s transportation infrastructure.
Inslee hopes to fund a $12 billion plan with bonds, fees and a carbon charge. The market-based carbon pollution charge would generate $7 billion over 12 years, according to an article in The Olympian. The fee would generate the equivalent of a 12 cent gas tax without hurting consumers, Inslee claims.
“Transportation pollution paying for transportation solutions,” Inslee said, according to The Olympian. “It’s not our children’s lungs that should be burned. It should be polluters’.
“It’s a pretty elegant solution for the state of Washington.”
Inslee claims the state will face a 52 percent drop in its maintenance budget and 71 bridges will become structurally deficient if the Legislature is not able to pass a transportation budget soon.