(Image courtesy of TVW)
Governor Jay Inslee says he feels good about the progress lawmakers have made so far this session, but there’s one area Inslee showed frustration.
With Governor Inslee pushing hard for more climate action, he was asked about offshore wind farms, where he says Washington has tremendous resources. Inslee says, “There in the water around the world, producing huge amounts of electricity at very, very low cost, and so the technology has now matured to be able to move forward.” However, the Governor was not happy when he was asked about a conservative group’s claim that his brand new carbon offset plan (a.k.a. “Cap and Invest”) is adding 10 cents a gallon to the price of gas, pointing to a new report. “Exxon Oil in 1970, we have now learned, their own scientists predicted what was going to happen to our planet if they continued to pollute,” Inslee says, “This is a continuing effort to line their pockets and expose our children to this risk because of their pollution.” The Governor also accused them of using the Ukraine war as an excuse to jack up prices and make what he called “obscene amounts of money”.
Inslee also says he’s open to ideas that allow more police pursuits and that he’ll support the gun bills and plan to lower the legal alcohol limit for driving if they make people safer. When asked if one to allow cities and counties to make their own gun laws would create an unfair patchwork of rules, Inslee says he gets that argument, but he says the lives that could be saved would outweigh that. On lowering the blood alcohol limit to 0.05, the Governor was asked about restaurants, bars and hospitality industry leaders arguing that it would hurt their businesses. Again, Governor Inslee said it’s a plan that would save lives, as he says it has in Utah, so he says he’ll support the plan over a business willing to put money over lives.
You can watch the Governor’s entire news conference on TVW here.