Oregon Senate committee agrees cap and trade needs more work
By Pete Danko, Portland Business Journal.
While the Oregon Senate committee working on climate legislation moved a cap-and-trade bill forward on Wednesday, even supporters say the measure isn't ready for full Senate consideration.
“This is not a bill that in its current form is ready for the floor,” said Sen. Michael Dembrow, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, who backs creation of a carbon cap and market in Oregon. “But it is ready for ongoing conversation.”
The committee voted unanimously to send the complex and potentially far-reaching Senate Bill 557 to the Rules Committee, but only after Republicans insisted that it move forward without recommendation for passage.
“We can’t recommend something we haven’t totally worked out,” Sen. Alan Olsen said. His fellow Republican on the committee Sen. Herman Baertschiger Jr. agreed.