Kitzhaber joins western governors in a call to put a price on carbon
In a joint statement with the other regional leaders who make up the Pacific Coast Collaborative, Gov. John Kitzhaber joined a call that supports a price on carbon.
While the statement itself, issued Wednesday, is far from controversial, it represents the first time the political leaders of California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia have voiced support for putting some kind of financial mechanism in place to reduce the region's reliance on carbon.
The leaders — British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, California Gov. Jerry Brown, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire along with Kitzhaber — convened in San Francisco this week at the GreenBuild 2012 Conference. The purpose of the meeting was to check in on the progress of the group's action plan to accelerate the region's clean economy, which was announced in March.
"We must better account for the environmental impacts associated with using fossil fuels that are detrimental to the health and well-being of our communities — and future generations," the joint statement declared.
"We must also look at how best to consider and then account for the cost of carbon and our costly reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources," it read. "California’s cap-and-trade program, which launches today, and British Columbia’s carbon tax are two examples of tools that help more accurately price energy resources and continue the transition to a 21st century energy infrastructure."
The joint statement coincided with the landmark launch of California's cap-and-trade system, which opened its auction Wednesday. There were no significant carbon price changes on the opening day.
"We strongly applaud Gov. Kitzhaber and other western leaders for their commitment to build out the clean energy economy," said Andrea Durbin, executive director of the Oregon Environmental Council, in a statement. "As the polls show, Oregonians agree that it's time to take serious steps to curb climate change and that means putting a price on carbon pollution. Our region needs to proactively address the root of climate change, especially in the wake of the recent extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy."
Earlier in the week, Kitzhaber asked leaders in Washington, D.C., to extend the federal Production Tax Credit, an important incentive for the wind energy industry.
Kitzhaber is an idiot. He couldn't run a kool aid stand without asking for more taxes. One of the worst persons
in government. Why doesn't he tackle the hard issues, the reason, he's useless and can't. Lets kill what little
industry is left in this state. See what enviro. have done to trees, fishing, coal, energy, pulp and paper,
and we wonder why our taxes keep going up, no one left to pay them.
What an old fool.
I am now convinced these left wing moonbats are actually zombies.
Great idea Gov. your state is drowning in unemployment and a suffocating economy, largely the fault of the democraps and you who have run the state for decades, and you go and endorse assininity like this.
Nice work brain trust.
 @Jack_Bauer Anyone this stupid to buy into the carbon crap must be devoid of a functioning brain.
If Kitzslahber wants to make a difference in carbon, maybe he should take himself out.. there are plenty of bridges he could jump from.
Oh what a good little globalist. A carbon tax will fix all our problems by making everything more expensive. What a great idea! Jump on the coat tails of Al Gore as this new science is a consensus rather than based on any facts. What data was gather was modified to "hide the decline" and all of this so called science is based on tree rings.Â
A single source of data for a problem this complex is absurd. All these so called scientist never look at what the sun could do. Any one that has paid attention knows that sun spots, coronal mass ejections and solar flares have a tremendous influence on Earths weather patterns. The first factor used in the old farmers almanac is solar activity. http://www.almanac.com/content/influence-solar-activity-weatherÂ
This is a scam! Governor Kitzhaber, go away, you are starting to really hurt this state. What's your plan, charge you by the miles we drive, by the amount of air we consume? I can't believe people buy into this garbage.
Btw, using hurricane sandy as a reason for this implementation, is absolutely stupid. We never, ever had hurricanes before? Buy a Prius and stop hurricanes everybody! Get me off this ride, it's no longer fun.
I understand the need to reduce carbon emissions, but might this lead to economically crippling new taxes on gasoline, electricity and indirectly most other products? Plenty of people are already spending more than they make just to survive.