OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Three states, including Alaska, that would be affected by a proposed 6-cent-per-gallon tax on fuel exported from Washington state are pushing back on the plan, and threatening to retaliate if it is signed into law.
Most of Alaska’s North Slope crude oil production is tankered to West Coast refineries, including several in Washington state, which ship refined products back to Alaska.
The tax — part of a $16.8 billion transportation revenue package that has cleared the state Senate and is working its way through the House — is projected to raise around $2 billion over the course of 16 years.
The Seattle Times reports lawmakers from Alaska, Oregon and Idaho are strongly opposed to the move, and making their feelings known through legislative resolutions, calls and op-eds.
“Washington taking unilateral action to increase gas prices for Oregon families and businesses is unacceptable,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in a tweet last week.
Brown, who said she conveyed her displeasure to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in a phone call last week, wrote a newspaper opinion piece published on Feb. 22, urging Inslee to “put this bad idea back on the shelf, where it belongs.”
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy encouraged his constituents to call Inslee’s office to oppose the tax.
The Idaho House of Representatives on Feb. 22 unanimously approved a joint memorial calling on Inslee to veto the tax if it comes to his desk, warning that the Legislature “will take any and all actions necessary to block this new tax,”
Idaho’s governor and attorney general also asked Inslee in a letter to veto the tax.
Jaime Smith, a spokeswoman for Inslee, said that the governor will sign the transportation revenue package if it makes it to his desk. “Funding sources are always a point of debate, and this plan is no different,” Smith said.
The tax would apply to any fuel products exported from Washington’s five refineries, which have historically been exempt from the state’s gas tax. Lawmakers say the new revenue stream is needed in order to not raise the state’s gas tax.
Washington has the fifth-largest crude oil refining capacity in the country. Democratic Sen. Marko Liias, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, and other Democrats argue the tax would help spread out the environmental burden caused by Washington’s refineries.
“This is a modest cost that has a huge return on investment, both for our state but also for our partner states,” Liias said. As for the threats from neighboring states, Liias said, “I think a lot of it is rhetoric.”
Ninety percent of the refined petroleum used in Oregon is imported from Washington, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Idaho has a more diverse array of sources, but has no refineries.
In Alaska, Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe is proposing a set of retaliatory taxes if Washington’s tax goes into effect — 6 cents per pound of exported fish, much of which is caught by Washington-based boats; a 6 cent per-foot mooring fee, targeting those same fishing vessels; and a $15 per-barrel surcharge on crude oil sent to Washington for refining.
“I want people in Washington to understand that Alaska is not going to take this taxation without representation lying down,” McCabe said.
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