‘We’re halfway there. We need to keep the pressure on to kill the Senate bill as well,’ says Short

Yesterday marked the cutoff for bills in the Washington State Legislature to be heard in their house of origin, meaning House bills not approved by the full membership of the House are considered "dead" until next session.

Rep. Shelly Short, R-Addy, was elated to report that the House version of Gov. Gregoire’s expensive "cap and trade" proposal didn’t make it out of the House before the cutoff.

"We’re halfway there," said Short, ranking Republican on the House Ecology and Parks Committee.  "But Senate Bill 5735 is still alive.  We need to keep the pressure on to kill the Senate bill as well."

House Bill 1819 is legislation requested by the governor in association with Washington’s involvement in the Western Climate Initiative.  The bill seeks to reduce the amount of carbon emitted from businesses in the state and levies punitive fines against companies emitting over a certain amount.

Short said implementing the concept at the state level when other states and nations haven’t fully committed to the same standards would hurt Washington employers, cost families jobs, and raise prices for consumers who are already stretched thin.

"Our state industries and employers compete on such a global scale," Short said.  "If our employers are held to unique and regressive emission standards, we will lose jobs, period.

"Protection of the environment is certainly important, and I’m adamant that we protect the heritage we have as a clean, environmentally-sound state," Short said.  "But we have to make sure our actions will produce the outcomes we want and no matter what we do, we have to make sure we’re not sacrificing our jobs.

"Europe has had cap and trade for eight years and hasn’t seen even a one percent drop in their emissions," continued Short.  "Washington emits only three-tenths of one percent of global greenhouse gasses.  We don’t want cap and trade; we don’t need cap and trade; and we certainly can’t afford cap and trade."

                                                                                                                     # # #

For more information, contact: Brendon Wold, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7698

‘This is a tool in the toolbox for small communities to deal with increasing costs and fire dangers brought on by a complete ban on outdoor burning,’ says Rep. Short

Stevens County Commissioner Larry Guenther joined Lake Spokane residents Dave Heckenlively and Gary Holmes last week in Olympia to testify in favor of legislation allowing limited outdoor burning for small communities.

"We have some very specific unincorporated communities that could really benefit by allowing a small window of outdoor burning," Guenther said.  "The Lake Spokane community, with their abundance of pine needles, is continually facing higher costs to remove and clean up the debris — not to mention the escalating fire dangers associated with the accumulation of dry pine needles on the ground."

Rep. Shelly Short, R-Addy, met with the group and said she supports the legislation and would work with her colleagues in the Legislature to help them better understand the issue.

"It’s becoming very obvious that the issues we face in our Eastern Washington communities are vastly different than what King County and Puget Sound communities face," said Short.  "If I mention that we have an abundance of dry pine needles on the ground that pose a fire hazard and cost money to remove, I get incredulous blank stares in return."

House Bill 1987 would allow outdoor burning of organic material on the first and third Saturdays in November by small communities with a population of 10,000 people or less.  Outdoor burning would not be allowed if county regulations or air quality conditions stipulate otherwise.  If a proposed burn day is cancelled due to weather conditions, a reschedule of the appointed day would be allowed.

"We’re not talking about opening the door to widespread, whole-scale outdoor burning," said Short.  "This legislation creates a very narrow burn window under specific definitions.

"The outdoor burning ban has created increased hardships," Short said.  "I view this as another tool in the toolbox for small communities to deal with increasing costs and fire dangers brought on by a complete ban on outdoor burning."

# # #

Contact: Brendon Wold, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7698

The House Ecology and Parks Committee passed House Bill 1819 today, the so-called cap and trade legislation.

Rep. Shelly Short, the ranking Republican on the committee, called the bill a "job killer" and said it will cause many businesses – and the jobs they provide – to leave the state.

"We heard testimony in committee from companies that are literally waiting to see what we do with this bill," said Short, R-Addy.  "They are on the verge of packing it in and moving to Idaho and other states.  This is also going to raise utility rates and the costs of goods and services for our families."

House Bill 1819 is legislation requested by the governor.  It is the result of Washington’s participation in the Western Climate Initiative, which currently includes six states and four Canadian provinces.  The legislation seeks to limit the amount of carbon emitted in the state from manufacturing and energy-producing businesses.  Companies that fail to comply face massive fines, can purchase carbon credits at auction, or pursue emission offsets.

"Washington is already one of the cleanest state’s in the nation and only accounts for one-third of one percent of global greenhouse gasses," Short said.  "It seems to me that we are taking an unnecessary lead and an unnecessary risk with this legislation.  What kind of disadvantages are we creating for our businesses if they have to compete regionally and globally with companies that don’t have to abide by these strict regulations?  How are we providing certainty for our businesses when we don’t know the costs associated with this legislation?

"This is precisely the wrong time to be adding punitive and costly regulations on our employers," Short said.

House Republicans proposed 13 amendments in committee, all of which – save one – were rejected along party lines.

The one House Republican amendment that was adopted requires the Office of Financial Management to report on the legislation’s impact to Washington ports.

"We have a very trade dependent state," Short said.  "Apart from the concerns we have with businesses, utility bills and agriculture, we also need to make sure we’re not adversely affecting our ports and our ability to import and export the goods upon which our economy thrives."

Short said the biggest surprise of the committee meeting was a Democrat amendment that removed the term "green jobs" from the bill.

"We’ve heard so much talk about green jobs this year and the creation of green jobs.  We offered an amendment that would specifically define ‘green jobs’ because there seems to be an awful lot of discrepancy as to what qualifies as one," Short said.  "That amendment was defeated, but shortly afterward the Democrats offered an amendment to take the term ‘green jobs’ out of the bill, so I think our point was made."

# # #

Rep. Shelly Short, R-Addy, issued the following statement today in response to an announcement of a public hearing next week on Gov. Christine Gregoire’s cap and trade proposal:

"The nation, the state and the Pacific Northwest region continue to lose jobs at a record pace.  With the current economic crisis, every decision we as elected officials make in Olympia should be guided by one thing: does this help families and jobs, or does this hurt families and jobs?

"The way I see it, this is not the time to be adding punitive and costly environmental policies on our employers.  Our state accounts for only three-tenths of one percent of global greenhouse gasses.  We shouldn’t be risking our state economy and jobs for an unproven regulation policy that burdens businesses and discourages out-of-state companies from bringing their jobs here.

"I have serious concerns that a state-sponsored cap and trade proposal would end up spending our limited state resources, cost businesses money they don’t have, and cost our state and region jobs we can’t afford to lose.

"Why are we not letting the new administration lead on this issue?  President Obama and the federal government have said they want to make a change and instill new environmental regulations.  Why aren’t we letting them do their job?  Where is the urgency to have a regional cap and trade program if the federal government is going to enact a national one?  It makes no sense.

"Anytime there is a ‘fast-track’ on legislation, the public should take notice.  Especially when that legislation deals with so many unknown costs and has the potential to eliminate more jobs in our manufacturing and energy production industries."

                                                                                                          # # #

For more information, contact: Brendon Wold, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7698

‘This is going to cost us jobs at a time when jobs are more scarce than ever,’ says Short

Rep. Shelly Short, R-Addy, today announced her opposition to upcoming "cap and trade" legislation, which she says will hurt families, eliminate jobs and devastate our state’s economy.

"While I think we can all agree that our environment is important and certainly something to be protected, the fact is, Washington state accounts for only three-tenths of one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions," Short said.  "Our state is very clean.  We have clean, abundant hydropower and some of the most aggressive conservation policies in the nation.  We shouldn’t be risking our state economy and jobs for an unproven cap and trade policy that burdens businesses and discourages out-of-state companies from bringing their jobs here.

"Furthermore, this is the wrong time to implement punitive and costly environmental policies on our employers," Short continued.  "Last week, Boeing announced nearly 5,000 employees would lose their jobs.  This week, it’s Microsoft announcing up to 5,000 people would be laid off.  Our state’s unemployment rate continues to go up and is at its highest point since 2003.  We should be doing everything we can to help employers create and retain jobs, not placing more obstacles in their way.  This is going to cost us jobs at a time when jobs are more scarce than ever."

The so-called cap and trade legislation is a proposal put forth by the Western Climate Initiative, which includes seven Western states and four Canadian Provinces.  The idea is to cap the amount of carbon that may be emitted by activities such as energy and oil production, manufacturing jobs, and, by 2015, auto emissions, in order to reach 1990 emission levels by 2020.

Businesses will have to purchase "allowances" from the government for the right to emit greenhouse gasses.  The government will limit the number of allowances available and continue to reduce that number every three years until the 1990 emission levels are reached.

If companies don’t have enough allowances to cover their emissions, they will have to pay a fine up to $10,000 per day.  And, if a company doesn’t use all of its emission allowances, it may sell those credits to other companies who need them.

While this might seem relatively harmless at first glance, Short said the extra costs to businesses that have very limited options to either pay penalties, buy credits from other entities, reduce production, or close their doors altogether will have a disastrous effect on the state’s economy.

"Companies are being told they’ll have to invest in new technologies that, frankly, don’t exist at this point," Short said.  "What are the costs associated with developing and paying for new technologies to reduce emissions?  What works for one sector, such as manufacturing, may not work for another sector, such as lumber and paper mills.

"Where is this money going to come from?  Consumers – consumers in our state are going to see prices for goods and services go up," Short continued.  "And what about competition with other states and nations?  Washington’s economy relies heavily on exporting manufactured goods and agricultural commodities.  Will our competitors be subject to similar regulations?  Or, are we going to be priced right out of business at every turn?"

Short said the cap and trade proposal also creates a scenario where Washington companies would be competing for survival against Wall Street firms with huge resources.

"The ‘trade’ part of cap and trade relies upon one company, which might be able to implement policies or technology to reduce emissions, selling their extra emission credits to those companies that are unable to meet the stringent requirements," Short said.  "As far as we can tell, there’s nothing to prevent an investment firm from buying up excess allowances from businesses in our state and then selling them to businesses in other states, like California or Oregon.  Washington companies could be facing an insurmountable dilemma of needing more emission credits, but not being able to compete with the resources available to big-time players on Wall Street.

"We could lose even more jobs in our state because additional emissions credits would all be sold to out-of-state companies," Short said.

Short also expressed concern for the possibility of rampant greed and corruption throughout the secondary market that will buy and sell the excess emissions credits.

"Once a free market is set up to trade allowances, the market becomes interstate commerce and will be controlled by the federal government," Short said.  "Washington cannot control the fraud, speculation and greed that will drive this market like we saw with Enron and the sub-prime lending market."

The governor is expected to propose her cap and trade legislation, dubbed the Climate Action Plan, soon.

Short is urging her constituents to call the Legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000 to let the governor know that Washington families cannot afford her cap and trade program.

# # #