Jay Inslee, Washington governor and 2020 presidential candidate, outlined his plan to fight pollution by fossil fuel on Monday. His plan included ending subsidies for gas and oil companies as well as outlawing fracking. This is Inslee’s fourth plan for addressing the climate situation and he goes as far as to take aim at gas and oil companies calling them “the greatest and most powerful special interests that are holding back our clean energy future.”
In the statement released along with the plan’s unveiling, Inslee says, “To build a clean energy economy, we must transition off of fossil fuels, and we will need a President who is willing to stand up to the fossil fuel corporations.” Inslee believes ideally the White House would eliminate up to $20 billion in subsidies to coal, gas and oil companies.
The plan also goes on to layout that bars any drilling on federal lands and offshore areas. This includes one of Inslee’s key issues, fracking. Fracking is the process of pushing water and other chemicals underground to push out oil from rock crevices and bring them to the surface. This practice has often been connected to contaminated drinking water as well as the increase in US domestic crude oil supply.
As far as to encourage cooperation, Inslee says that his administration would start a “Climate Pollution Fee.” This fee would hold large pollution makers accountable for their emissions including both health and environmental damages. In addition, Inslee also proposes a “Climate Test” to make sure all new infrastructure projects meet environmental standards.
Inslee also has the backing of Greenpeace who call his plan “the most comprehensive to date to end the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold on our democracy and clear the way for a future built on clean, renewable energy. This is now the gold standard that all other candidates must meet if they hope to win over the millions of voters and young people demanding climate leadership from the next president.”
