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What's next, a tax on breathing?

The state of Washington is about to set it's economy back by 17 years and more, and do so nearly permanently. The politicians in the state House of Representatives have swallowed the lie that Carbon Dioxide is a terrible evil, the "No. 1 environmental threat", and so they've decided to implement the Kyoto Protocol rejected by the U.S. Senate. In fact, they've chosen to go beyond it.

Get ready for a tax on breathing. From the Seattle Times:

A late Thursday night vote in the state House of Representatives put Washington on the brink of becoming one of the few states with a law setting targets for cutting greenhouse gases in hope of stemming global warming, and imposing strict limits on emission from new power plants.

The measure, which passed 84-14 after a brief debate, commits Washington to shrink emissions to 1990's levels by 2020.

Despite the costs to the economy that the Kyoto protocol poses, despite the fact that if the Kyoto protocol were fully implemented by every nation that participated in creating it world global temperature increases would only be slowed down by a miniscule amount, and despite the fact that the amount of Carbon Dioxide produced in the State of Washington is  far less than a thousandth of a percent of what nature releases annually, we're going to implement it in Washington.

By 2035, the measure is supposed to lower emissions to 25 percent below 1990's levels, and to 50 percent by 2050.The Senate already has approved a similar bill but is expected to adopt the House version and send it to Gov. Christine Gregoire to be signed.

So not only are we going to implement the Kyoto protocol here in Washington, despite the fact that so far no signatory has managed to live up to it, we're even going to go far beyond what it requires. When the state decides to reduce emissions of Carbon Dioxide to a level 100 percent lower than 1990's levels, it's over. Breathing will be outlawed.

The measure, praised Thursday night by Republicans and Democrats, also would forbid most new power plants, or new long-term power contracts, if too much greenhouse gases are produced to make the power.

No new power plants. No new sources of energy. As the population grows more people will suffer during the weather extremes. Productivity will decline, all for a nebulous gain, for a "well intentioned" restriction that will only have negative effects on the economy and zero effect on the environment.

"We essentially have an agreement that will kick-start our battle against climate change," said Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-Seattle, a leader in negotiations with the House.

No Sen. Poulsen, we essentially have an agreement that will kick-start your battle against the state's economy. We essentially have an agreement that will harm the poorest among us as energy prices rise and Democrats force senior citizens to choose between dog food for dinner or heat in the winter.

Gregoire issued an executive order in February setting the same emissions targets, and creating a task force to figure out how to reach them.

But this would give them the force of law and make it trickier to back out later. The legislation also would go further with its power-plant restrictions.

So let's sacrifice our future for a threat that 17,800 scientists have said is overrated and may not even be a threat. And, let's make it very difficult to take corrective action when this action proves to be a failure.

It's bad enough that the science of climate change is being ignored. It's worse when politicians decide to destroy our economy for a "feel-good" action that won't have any measurable benefits.