Group driving the Price at the Pump endorses Brown, Klitzke, Dillon
POSTED 22 July 2023
We are pleased to see LAUREL DEMKOVICH, formerly the Olympia Bureau reporter for the Spokesman-Review, continuing to get the story. Now, with the Washington State Standard, Laurel did a great job yesterday with her piece, “Pipeline that Inslee blames for gas price spike has been open for nearly a month.”
Laurel’s opening lines are telling. She writes,
“Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday repeatedly blamed the closure of a major fuel pipeline in western Washington for driving the state’s gasoline prices to the highest in the nation.
But the pipeline isn’t shut down and hasn’t been since late June, refueling debate over how much of the recent surge at the pump is a result of oil industry profiteering versus the state’s climate policies.”
Oops. Laurel quotes an Eastern Washington legislator who puts the politics in perspective,
“Blaming the brief pipeline shutdown for the highest gas prices in the nation is nonsense,” said Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, in a statement. “Gas prices have been on a steady rise since January, and it is caused by the cap-and-trade program.”
Todd Meyers of The Washington Policy Center also does a great job placing blame where blame need be.
One of the most aggressive proponents of increased prices at the pump is Washington Conservation Action (WCA). Late November, WCA promoted the Clean Fuel Standard (a politically-correct title for cap and trade “carbon tax”) claiming,
“Despite persistent opposition claims that the CFS and other climate policies increase the price of fuel, in both Oregon and California, clean fuels credit prices have not correlated with the price of gasoline and diesel. Notably, like Washington, Oregon and California have also enacted other significant climate policies in recent years. With a continued transition to clean fuels (including electricity), Washington’s reliance on oil will decline and individual transportation costs will decrease, freeing Washington consumers from the burden of volatile, often high, gas and diesel prices.”
Double oops. WCA has endorsed Lisa Brown, Paul Dillon, Kitty Klitzke, Lindsey Shaw and Eseban Herevia.
Under the direction of Lisa Brown, the Washington Dept of Commerce pushed Governor Inslee’s energy strategy including the “Clean Fuel Standard.” The Dept of Commerce website section on transportation and fuels states,
“One of the most common requests we get is for information about our petroleum supply and what is behind prices and price volatility. We update the petroleum whitepaper every few years in order to provide accurate answers to those questions.”
The date of their last whitepaper? 2013. Triple oops.
We will keep you updated on this issue and these candidates – much more to come. Stay safe, stay hydrated, check on your neighbors, friends and family, and stay On the Ball 509!
(Although we love and support our Evergreen State economy, there is no shame in fueling up in Idaho)