Washington Department of Ecology (WA ECY)
Opponents of Washington’s fledgling cap-and-trade program have delivered 418,399 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office in a push to repeal the program.
Washington's Nov. 8 cap-and-trade auction cleared all 5 million carbon emissions allowances put up for bid at a Tier 1 price of $51.90 the state's Ecology Department said.
The state will tentatively seek to link its cap-and-trade program with the California-Quebec carbon market in an effort to reduce the financial impact of pricing carbon in its economy.
A decision by Washington to link its cap-and-trade program to the one shared by California and Quebec should benefit participants in both systems, according to preliminary analysis by the state.
Washington state officials expect to soon decide whether to join the California-Quebec cap-and-trade program.
The suit by a conservative group attempted to halt the state’s cap-and trade program by eliminating Department of Ecology’s rulemaking authority.
Allowance prices continued to rise after the state’s latest cap-and-trade auction cleared at $63.03, up nearly 13% from the previous auction.
Washington’s first cap-and-trade auction from the program’s Allowance Price Containment Reserve raised almost $62.5 million, the Ecology Department said.
Washington held a special cap-and-trade auction intended to help keep carbon costs in check after May’s quarterly auction cleared at an unexpectedly high price.
Critics of Washington’s cap-and-trade system blame it for the state's high gas prices, but defenders say other factors are at play too.
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