Federalism is coming to the rescue of our planet, and not a moment too soon. Today is one of those days to be grateful to our founders for devising a plan of government that requires power to be shared between the federal government.
Category: Our Environment
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics
Left Coast vows to continue fight for climate justice as Trump abandons Paris accords
Elected leaders from Washington, Oregon, California, and other states are vowing to continue state and regional efforts to tackle climate damage, saying that future generations are counting on us.
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics
Left Coast leaders fiercely denounce Trump regime’s climate-sabotaging executive order
Abandoning President Barack Obama’s noble efforts to bolster our commitment to caring for the Earth, our common home, Donald Trump today signed an executive order today that scraps the nation’s Clean Power Plan, trying to undo one of the most important steps taken in recent years to combat the climate crisis. The move was met […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics
Progressive Ideas We Need: Funding a clean energy future through pollution penalties
Editor’s Note: Today and throughout this weekend, NPI is running a special series here on the Cascadia Advocate called Progressive Ideas We Need, highlighting proposals that would raise quality of life in our region and in the United States as a whole. Each post is contributed by an NPI staff, board, or advisory council member. […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics
Like a scene from The Chronicles of Narnia: Frozen Franklin Falls is a winter wonderland
One of the great advantages of living in the Pacific Northwest is the nearness of nature, including unspoiled mountains and ocean beaches. Thanks to the work of many sustainability-oriented Washingtonians, Oregonians, and Idahoans, we have protected many of our beautiful and wild places from being scarred or destroyed. One such place is the Mountains to […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning
Sound Transit Board sends ST3 to ballot; Mass Transit Now campaign launches to pass it
Sound Transit’s eighteen member Board of Directors voted unanimously to adopt the revised draft ST3 (Phase III) plan and refer it to the voters of urban King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties this afternoon, successfully concluding several years of extensive planning and public outreach. Board Chair Dow Constantine thanked Sound Transit staff for their hard work […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning
YES on Sound Transit 3: Now is the time to make a bold investment in regional mobility
Editor’s Note: Today at Union Station, I spoke in favor of Sound Transit’s ST3 plan, and urged the Sound Transit Board of Directors to place it on the ballot. The following is the text of my prepared testimony. I delivered an abbreviated version of these remarks before the Board during its public comment period. Good […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning
Oil train derails and catches fire near Mosier, Oregon, fulfilling fears of progressive activists
A great many people in the progressive movement have been warning that it would only be a matter of time before an insufficiently-secured coal or oil train derailed here in the Pacific Northwest. And now, it’s happened: A multi-car oil train derailment Friday in the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier sent up a massive plume […]
Posted inElections, Our Environment, Policy Topics
Washington State Democratic Party takes position opposing CarbonWA’s I‑732
Yesterday, during the middle day of its 2016 winter meeting, the Washington State Democratic Party went on record as opposed to CarbonWA’s I‑732, joining the Washington State Labor Council and IAM’s District Lodge 751 in the no camp. I‑732 is a complex tax swap proposal that would levy a carbon tax while also reducing sales […]
Posted inLegislative Advocacy, Our Environment, Policy Topics
Washington State Labor Council votes to oppose CarbonWA’s Initiative 732
The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, a federation of more than six hundred unions representing nearly half a million workers in Washington State, announced today that it has taken a position formally opposing CarbonWA’s I‑732, which backers have advertised as a “revenue neutral” tax swap that would levy a tax on emissions of gases like […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics
CarbonWA’s I‑732 barely survives random sample check, Secretary of State reports
CarbonWA’s Initiative 732, a supposedly “revenue neutral” proposal to levy a statewide tax on carbon emissions while lowering Washington’s sales and B&O taxes, has narrowly qualified as an initiative to the 2016 Legislature following a random sample check, says the chief spokesman for Secretary of State Kim Wyman. In an early evening press release, Wyman’s Communications […]
Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics, World Commmunity
President Barack Obama announces his administration has rejected Keystone XL
Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, President Barack Obama announced today that his administration has — after a lengthy and repeatedly delayed review process — rejected oil giant TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border. “Now, for years, the Keystone [XL] Pipeline has occupied […]
Posted inElections, Our Environment, Policy Topics
Alliance for Jobs & Clean Energy will go to the ballot in 2016 with initiative to cap pollution
Exciting news to share today: The Alliance for Jobs & Clean Energy, of which NPI is a member, has announced that it will be launching an initiative to the people for 2016 to cap emissions of pollutants that have given our planet an increasingly bad fever. The initiative will appear on the November 2016 statewide […]
Posted inElections, Our Environment, Policy Topics
Washington State’s Machinists take position opposing CarbonWA’s I‑732
A couple weeks ago, our President, Robert Cruickshank, wrote a lengthy blog post explaining why NPI cannot support CarbonWA’s I‑732, a statewide initiative sponsored by economist Yoram Bauman that attempts to create a new tax on carbon dioxide emissions and use the revenue to lower other taxes. This past weekend, the Washington Council of Machinists, which […]