A suite of legislation under consideration in Olympia could be a "grand bargain" for climate change and longterm funding of transportation projects. Bills include a clean-fuels standard, carbon pricing and $18.7 billion for transportation projects.
State lawmakers will make another try at gas or carbon taxes in 2021 as debt rises, highways crumble and the atmosphere warms. They've been somewhere around 15 cents per gallon in the past, and new talks have started.
BP, the state's largest refiner, two years ago poured nearly $13 million into defeating carbon pricing ballot measure. Now, a print, radio and social media campaign will promote a Senate bill that the company likes better.
