KPLU Local News
(2010-02-05)
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OLYMPIA, WA
(N3) -
Environmentalists and oil companies are about to go to war over a tax proposal in Olympia. At issue is a bill to triple Washington's hazardous substance tax. It's levied on petroleum products - like crude oil - and other toxics when they come into Washington. KPLU's Austin Jenkins has this preview.
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First a bit of history. In the late 1980s, Washington voters approved a seven-tenths-of-one-percent tax on hazardous substances. The oil industry pays the bulk of the tax. It's supposed to fund hazardous waste clean-up. More than twenty years later, environmentalists and others want to make it a two-percent tax and dedicate the money to addressing stormwater run-off. Environmental lobbyist Clifford Traisman calls it the state's number one source of water pollution from Puget Sound to the Spokane River.
Clifford Traisman: "This is an opportunity to stimulate the economy, this is an opportunity to help local communities, this is why it's one of the number one priorities for labor, for cities, for counties and the environmental community."
The tax increase would raise more than 200-million dollars a year. But in order to win enough support in a bad budget year, backers of the tax cut a deal with majority Democrats. So, the way the bill is written, initially most of the money raised would go to the state's general fund, not to dedicated stormwater programs. That has opponents pouncing.
David Fisher: "It's really a general fund bailout in the guise of environmental action."
David Fisher is a spokesman for a coalition of oil companies and other interests who oppose the tax hike. He says petroleum products account for 80-percent of the tax. That means motorists could end up paying more at the pump - Fisher say perhaps as much as six-cents-per-gallon more.
David Fisher: "Even the person that's willing to pay that six-cent premium has to recognized the fact that there's really no guarantee it's going to be used for the purposes that that person would like to see it used for."
Environmental lobbyist Traisman calls the six-cents-per-gallon calculation "way off." He predicts oil companies will mount a high-profile opposition campaign to defeat the bill."
Clifford Traisman: "We're going to have a very huge fight."
But already key Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown are signing onto the legislation and signaling strong support. I'm Austin Jenkins in Olympia. © Copyright 2012, N3
