TRI-CITIES, Wash. – Over the weekend 43 Washington State Legislators sent this letter to the Department of Ecology proposing several changes to the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) that went into effect at the beginning of 2023.
The letter suggests several adjustments to the CCA. It also suggests a temporary suspension of the rule – suggesting the suspension would lower gas prices.
The Cap and Invest Program built into the CCA has not had as direct of an impact on supply and demand in Washington state, According to Andrew Wineke with the Department of Ecology
“Nobody who is covered by these policies has to do anything until the end of next year,” Wineke said. “So some of them may be raising some prices trying to pass through some of those costs in anticipation of those compliance costs but nothing direct.”
He said the increase this summer comes from the closure of the Olympic Pipeline for maintenance which he attributes to AAA.
In an article on the AAA website from June Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho said, “Gasoline supplies are already fairly tight with demand in the U.S. above nine million barrels a day for the fourth week in a row. Factor in the work being done on the Olympic pipeline, and that’s a recipe for rising pump prices in Oregon and Washington.”
Now that it’s opened back up a small decrease has been seen in Washington over the last three weeks according to Wineke.
“It’s been small small drops. There’s a saying with gas prices. they rise like a rocket and fall like a feather so we’re in the feather stage, but it’s slow coming,” he said.
He said he expects gas prices to go down as Washington moves toward cleaner sources of energy.
“We think over time it’s going to reduce costs. Even if you don’t buy an electric car, even if you can’t work from home,” Wineke said. “Because there’s going to be a reduced demand for gasoline that’s going to bring prices down over time.”
