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Map: The Future Is Carbon-Priced and the US is Getting Left Behind
A little over a year ago, 195 countries signed on to the historic Paris Climate Accord to limit global warming pollution. This year, the United States pointed a loaded gun at its own foot, and President Trump pulled the trigger, announcing he will withdraw from the agreement. But the rest of the world is moving ahead with carbon pricing programs that will give other countries a head start in the...Read more » -
Coal Exports: The End Game Unfolds
Financial turmoil! Political opposition! Environmental intrigue! By any measure it’s been a momentous week for Northwest coal exports. Here’s the rundown: A political game-changer in British Columbia In the midst of a tight election battle, BC Premier Christy Clark radically changed the debate over coal exports in the province last Wednesday by asking Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to ban coal exports to overseas power plants. Media reports initially described the move simply...Read more » -
Who Should Pay for Tacoma’s Last Big Cleanup?
There’s a modern-day monster lurking under Tacoma’s industrial lands. Mixed in with the groundwater is a stew of pollution from a shuttered chemical plant: PCBs—toxic chemicals the EPA banned in 1979—and volatile organic chemicals so alkaline that it’s actually stronger than drain cleaner and, according to the company responsible, is actually dissolving rocks into jelly. The core plume of toxic chemicals under the Tacoma tideflats is as tall as the...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 11/4/16
Eric In the midst of the wettest October on record, the right poem made its way to me. It would be easy to imagine that Robert Frost wrote “A Line-Storm Song” about this season in the Northwest, though of course he didn’t and it’s about much more than the weather. The last stanza breaks my heart in a curious way. Anna A friend of mine, and former Sightline intern (of...Read more » -
Green Stamps: A Climate Equity Proposal for the Pacific Northwest
Low-income families typically cause far less greenhouse gas pollution than their better-off peers; yet because they make less money, they spend a larger share of their income on carbon-based fuels. They’ve done the least to cause climate change, but they’re the most vulnerable to its impacts. They’re also most vulnerable to the single best policy for taming carbon pollution—putting a price on it—which would hit them in the pocketbook harder...Read more » -
Weighing the Critiques of CarbonWA’s I-732
Note from Alan: As I explained previously, Washington’s Initiative 732 has divided climate hawks so deeply that even writing about it is a task we undertake with trepidation. (To get a sense of the landscape, please read the introduction to the first article in this series.) Organizations and individuals we respect and have collaborated with for decades—indeed, many personal friends of mine—are on opposite sides of the controversy. Sightline has...Read more » -
Does I-732 Really Have a “Budget Hole”?
UPDATE, AUG 4: We added the first graph, below, to illustrate our analysis. UPDATE, AUG 3: Friends have suggested that basing some of our analysis on the sum of state tax revenue unfairly biases it in favor of I-732, something we certainly didn’t intend. Our estimated $78 million average annual shortfall is just 0.37 percent of $21 billion in state tax revenue, but it is 3.9 percent of CarbonWA’s $2...Read more » -
And the Most Car-Sharing City in Cascadia Is…
Editor’s Note December 2016: Great news! BMW ReachNow car-sharing service has expanded its fleet to Portland with 360 vehicles and added 330 vehicles to its fleet in Seattle. We’ve updated the numbers below: Last month, BMW launched its car-sharing brand ReachNow in Seattle, expanding into North America from its half-million-member stronghold in Europe, and I’ll admit that even I, a car-free bike commuter, felt a little dzzzzt of mid-life thrill as I downloaded the...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 4/8/16
Keiko Is there lead exposure risk in your community? Find out here. Ta Nehisi-Coates is now writing comic books?! Black Panther features the first black superhero in mainstream American comics. Ta Nehisi-Coates gives you a behind-the-scenes look at this new Marvel comic book. Anna You knew this already, but here are more damning details: Fossil fuel giants and their trade groups spend an estimated $115 million per year blocking climate policies. (And in...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 3/25/16
Margaret A friend of mine has just been priced out of her long-time apartment in Capitol Hill. After close to a decade in the neighborhood, this year’s rent hike was too much for the family budget. She’ll be moving to Lake Forest Park in a few weeks, taking on a longer commute, which will leave her less time to spend with her family. Last week Dupre+Scott, a local research team...Read more »