Ferguson rebuffs GOP lawmaker's call to pause WA climate law
Gov. Bob Ferguson is rejecting a lead Republican’s proposal to temporarily suspend Washington’s cap-and-trade program to decrease prices at the pump.
In the last three months, retail gasoline in Washington has increased by $1.63 a gallon on average, according to the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And on Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular here was $5.70, $1.38 more than the nationwide average, according to AAA.
State Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, urged Ferguson in a May 20 letter to use his emergency declaration power as governor to temporarily suspend the Climate Commitment Act. The law requires companies to buy allowances from the state for their air pollution.
“The cost of gas already has been higher in Washington than all but one or two states for the past few years,” wrote Gildon, who is Senate Republicans’ lead on the operating budget. He suggested pausing the law could reduce the wholesale price of gasoline by about 50 cents per gallon “immediately,” and that prices would begin to fall at the pump within a week.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/06/01/ferguson-rebuffs-gop-lawmakers-call-to-pause-wa-climate-law/
Republicans love shitty air.