Guest Column by Tom Bowerman, Bend Builletin, February 26th 2020
Why would Republicans leave the State over the Oregon legislature’s SB 1530 cap-and-trade bill? Why do they now oppose a proven policy which started as a Republican idea?
Under national Republican administrations in the 1980’s cap-and-trade successfully reduced air pollutants involving sulfur in coal (acid rain), chlorofluorocarbons (ozone depletion), and lead in gasoline (brain damage). The policies worked faster and at less cost than originally estimated, well documented by researchers at MIT and Harvard. One of the authors testified in favor of cap-and-trade at the request of Republicans in the 2019 legislative session. (bit.ly/MIT30Years)
