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The new draft proposal is here. Just the major points. First off, the proposal is basically pretty good. We should keep in mind that what the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) is doing represents a big—gigantic—step in the right direction for the climate. So I’ll raise a glass to everyone who’s worked so hard on the WCI proposal so far. But there’s room for improvement. Below, I highlight the core areas of the...

My patience is wearing thin. Yesterday, to some fanfare, the EIA released a bullish forecast predicting big demand for fossil fuels. Something seemed fishy, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until I saw the brand-new—just revised—projections of future gasoline prices: No, honestly, this is the US government’s official projection—aka “the reference case” — for gasoline prices, shown here in 2006 dollars. In fact, it’s so official that it comes under this banner:...

Vancouver Report: Sightline analysis of new Census data finds decline in Vancouver’s smart-growth record. From 2001 through 2006, the share of new urban and suburban growth that went into compact, walkable communities declined and the amount of land developed to accommodate new residents increased, compared with the 1990s.

Sightline Institute’s reports on sprawl and smart growth in several Northwest cities analyze how each city did at curbing sprawl and developing efficiently, starting with the period of the 1990s.

Teaching old dogs new tricks? It took soaring fuel prices for old habits to shift. But they’re shifting alright.  Just take a look at these poll results – Gallup finds that big numbers of Americans are making changes in their daily lives to deal with higher gas prices. Here’s a snapshot: Most telling, perhaps, is that 7 out of 10 poll respondents are considering a more fuel-efficient car.  That’s a...

The Taku River valley is one of BC’s crown jewels. It’s 4.5 million acres of forest tucked up in the northwest corner of the province. It’s also the home of the Taku Tlingit nation, who have a vision of how to manage the land for future generations. Now they’re sitting down with the province to hammer out a plan. The Prince Rupert Daily News has the story. Like Clayoquot Sound...

On February 19, we applauded British Columbia’s new carbon tax shift. I’ve now had time to digest the plan. It’s even better than we said, and the province could tweak it to make it better still. This policy is the purest instance of a tax shift that I’ve ever seen. It’s an exceptionally faithful implementation of tax shifting—a policy innovation Sightline has been promoting since 1994 and especially since our...

This is worth reading: BC enegy guru Mark Jaccard argues in The Tyee  that the province’s new carbon tax hits a sweet spot. Not to hard, not too soft, but just right. Apparently, the tax has been attacked from both the left (doesn’t do enough to curb emissions, too hard on consumers) and from the right (hurts businesses, so high that it’ll spur runaway inflation).  The fact that it’s taking...

British Columbia rocks my world. With the release of the annual budget today, provincial officials just announced that they will levy a carbon tax to help drive down emissions. Even better, the carbon tax will be a tax shift—surely the best instance of tax shifting in the Northwest: Finance Minister Carole Taylor vowed Tuesday that all money collected through the new tax will be returned through a package of tax...

Oh, cut it out, would you? The City of Nanaimo [British Columbia] will reduce greenhouse gases and vehicle congestion by improving a busy stretch of road…New traffic lights, widened traffic lanes and improved access to the Swy-a-lana Lagoon Park… will improve traffic flow and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from idling vehicles. So says the government of BC, propagating a silly urban legend as if it were fact. I don’t mean...