The legislature is ready to pass "cap and trade" legislation similar to that enacted by California. Republicans in the Senate are threatening to walk out rather than lose on this issue. One of them even threatened the Senate President and any state troopers who might compel him to show up in the Senate chamber and do his job. Don't worry, though; Senator Boquist is white, so his threat to shoot law enforcement officers isn't terrorism.
Anyway, "cap and trade" in its Oregon form will apply to the worst of the worst polluters initially. Republicans are selling fear and ignorance that if this bill becomes law, all business in Oregon will cease immediately. Or something like that. They've ginned up their rural constituents to think that this is all some commie socialist police state nazi (don't ask) plot. But having seen over the years the toxic dumps left behind by industry all over the state, this is a tough sell. When the state goes looking for the perpetrators, the corporation is dissolved and the principals vanish with the money they've looted. Who's left to clean up the mess? Taxpayers, of course. What "cap and trade" does is cause polluting industries to make cleaning up their own mess part of their business plan. Horrors! You can see why log truck drivers descended en masse on the state capitol yesterday to protest against this bill. Or maybe you can't. But the truckers are certainly pissed that the wealthy men pulling their strings might have to be financially responsible in a small way.
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