On track to bring likely $2B into state coffers by the end of their first year, Washington’s new cap-and-trade market still doesn’t protect farmers and fishers from the burden of its crippling costs.
The law launching the state’s carbon market was passed on the promise that it would exempt those producing food from paying the additional costs it created.
But Gov. Inslee’s Department of Ecology failed to create a program to protect these communities that not only feed us, but also steward the land and water, on what are frequently razor-thin margins.
And now suddenly Gov. Inslee is concerned about the costs created by the program he championed with promises that its costs would be negligible?
This added burden on growing food here in Washington is stacked on top of a long list of pressures that are forcing more and more local family farmers out of business, and outsourcing more and more of our food production to foreign countries.
Actions speak louder than words, Gov. Inslee. Will you and your administration to take immediate action to protect the future of local food and farming?
Or will you continue to pay only lip service to making the program you created “less costly,” while sitting idly by while local food producers pack up and move away?